OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The No. 5 Messiah women's team scored a pair of goals in each half to down the Stevenson Mustangs by a 4-0 final score on Wednesday night. The Falcons used goals from Bella Touzeau, Hannah Adair, Kaitlyn Laird, and Tahlia Lloyd to claim their sixth MAC Commonwealth victory in as many matches. With the victory, Messiah moved to 14-2-0 on the season.
 
The Falcons controlled the match with a 30-1 advantage in shots, putting 17 attempts on frame.
 
Messiah will wrap up the regular season this weekend when they travel to York to take on the Spartans in the regular season finale at 1:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
As mentioned, Wednesday night's match was all Messiah with the Falcons attempting 30 shots on the evening against just one from the Mustangs. Stevenson registered their attempt in the 28th minute, but Ava Wert saved the shot as Messiah pitched their 11th shutout of the season.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, the Falcons got on the board in the eighth minute with Bella Touzeau collecting her own rebound off a blocked shot on the left side of the box. With a pair of defenders around her, Touzeau pulled possession to the left and fired a high-arcing shot to the left post that beat the Stevenson keeper for a 1-0 Messiah lead. The finesse finish came on Messiah's first shot of the match and was Touzeau's second tally of the season.
 
Touzeau registered an assist less than 20 minutes later when she slipped a pass to Hannah Adair well outside the box. Adair had space and wound up for a shot from 25 yards out. Her attempt beat the keeper to her right and doubled the Falcons' lead to 2-0 in the 27th minute. With the assist, Touzeau has now registered at least one assist in each of the last five matches and moves into the top-10 nationally in assists on the season with 10. Additionally, in a stretch of seven matches, Touzeau has helped on nine Messiah goals.
 
The score from Adair was her eighth goal of the season, all of which have come in the last nine matches.
 
The 2-0 score stood into the second half, but the Falcons added some insurance in the 55th and 61st minutes with goals from Kaitlyn Laird and Tahlia Lloyd, respectively. First it was Laird, who was on the receiving end of a fine effort from Julia Martin. Holding possession and dodging through a pair of Stevenson defenders, Martin got into the box and pulled the keeper off her line. A centering pass found the foot of Laird for the finish from in front of the goal mouth for the 3-0 lead.
 
Then in the 61st minute, Messiah earned a corner kick on the left side. The Falcons played a short corner, which allowed space for a Hannah Adair to rip a shot from outside the box on the near side. Adair's rocket squarely knocked off the crossbar and bounced into the middle of the box. With the defense standing flat footed, Tahlia Lloyd pounced on the bouncing ball for a strong header that found the back of the net. Lloyd's score was her fifth of the season.
 
What's Up Next
With the victory, Messiah improves to 14-2-0 on the season and remains a perfect 6-0-0 in the conference. The Falcons will conclude the regular season on Saturday when they travel to York to take on the Spartans at 3:00 p.m. The match will decide the top seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Championships. Both the Falcons and Spartans at 6-0-0 in the conference this season, but Messiah needs just a draw to claim the top seed in next week's tournament due to tie-breaker scenarios.