EWING, N.J. – The No. 11 Messiah women's lacrosse team too care of business on Saturday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, disposing of the St. Mary's College of Maryland Seahawks by a 13-2 final score. With the runaway victory, Messiah advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon and will take on No. 6 The College of New Jersey at 1:00 p.m.
 
Messiah jumped out in front quickly, taking an 8-0 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. Makenzie Schnur led all scorers in the game with eight total points, scoring four goals and adding four assists. Schnur was quickly on the board, scoring the first two tallies of the game just over two minutes into the contest. Hannah Gawne also found the back of the cage twice as six different Falcons scored in the opening period.
 
Messiah then scored three times in the second quarter to take an 11-1 lead into the break. The Seahawks allowed just two Messiah goals after the break, but the Falcons early lead was more than enough to advance Messiah into the Second Round on Sunday afternoon.
 
As mentioned, Schnur led the Falcons' offense with eight points, scoring four goals and adding four assists. With the victory, Messiah improves to 16-3 on the season and will take on the host TCNJ Lions on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with a spot in next weekend's Sweet 16 on the line.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons scored early and often in the first quarter, finding the back of the cage eight times to take an 8-0 lead after 15 minutes of play. Makenzie Schnur was first on the board with back-to-back tallies in the first 2:06 of the game to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead. Just a minute later, Schnur found Jordan Lewicki for a third goal and 15 seconds later Rachel Delate scored for a 4-0 Messiah lead.
 
Across the final 10 minutes of the quarter, Hannah Gawne scored twice while Hope Flack and Hayley Lettinga each connected once. The result was an 8-0 Messiah lead after the first quarter. The Falcons outshot the Seahawks 12-2 in the period.
 
After a quick goal from Hope Flack early in the second, the quarter became a little lower scoring with the game featuring a 7:36 scoreless stretch before Jordan Lewicki found Makenzie Schnur for her third goal of the game. That tally put the Falcons up 10-0 and got the clock going. The Seahawks would halt that process just over two minutes later with their first goal of the game off a Bella Dunigan tally.
 
With just seconds remaining in the first half, Rachel Delate connected off a feed from Schnur to put Messiah baack up double-digits at 11-1 as the game moved to the half.
 
With the clocking moving for the entirety of the second half, Makenzie Schnur scored the lone tally of the third quarter just 32 seconds into the stanza. In the fourth, Flack got the quarter started with a goal just over a minute in to bump Messiah's lead to 13-1. St. Mary's scored midway through the quarter, but Erin Carmody's tally was not enough as the Falcons cruised to the 13-2 victory.
 
The Falcons held a 28-20 advantage in shots in the contest, putting 22 of their attempts on frame against just 10 from the Seahawks.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Sunday afternoon in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament against the No. 6 TCNJ Lions. The Lions earned a bye through the opening round and will be kicking off their NCAA Tournament run with the Falcons tomorrow. The opening draw control is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in Ewing, N.J.