CHESTER, PA. – The Messiah men's lacrosse team was outscored 8-4 in the first and fourth periods which proved to be the difference in their conference loss against Widener this evening as the Pride won 12-9.
Chad Teresky had two goals and two assists in a four point performance while
Nathan Branson added two goals himself.
The Falcons will travel to Frederick, Md. to battle the Hood College Blazers with major playoff implications. Both teams are vying for the fifth and final spot in the MAC Commonwealth playoffs to earn a berth in the MAC Commonwealth Play-In Game early next week. The game will begin at 6:30 PM on April 26.
First Half
Jesse Lynch put the Falcons on the board to begin the game with a goal just over five minutes into the game. The Pride answered with two goals of their own before the Falcons tied it back up with a goal from
Ben Antel. Of note, Antel's goal was scored with Messiah playing with a man down. Widener tacked on two additional goals to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
Messiah would score twice in the second quarter courtesy of
Ben Ferrell and
Chad Teresky but Widener still held a 5-4 edge heading into the break.
Second Half
A
Nathan Branson goal quickly tied the game up less than a minute into the third period. A
Bobby Berg goal later and the Falcons held a 6-5 lead. The teams would trade goals once again as Messiah would take a 7-6 lead. Widener answered with two goals to take an 8-7 lead into the final period of play.
The teams traded goals in the fourth as the Falcons still trailed by one at 9-8. Widener would control the rest of the game, outscoring the Falcons 3-1 over the last nine minutes of the game.
The Pride would hold on to win the game 12-9.
Stats
Chad Teresky and
Nathan Branson each had two goals while
Aaron Shaw,
Jesse Lynch,
Bobby Berg,
Ben Ferrell and
Ben Antel all found the back of the cage once. Teresky also tacked on two assists on his four point night.
Up Next
The loss takes the Falcons record to 9-6 and drops their conference mark to 2-4. The Falcons need to win out in order to have a chance at the MAC Commonwealth Play-In Game early next week.
A decisive matchup against Hood College who is also in contention for the fifth seed awaits the Falcons on Wednesday, April 26. Messiah will travel to Frederick, Md. for that game with opening faceoff set for 6:30 PM.
