GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Messiah University men's lacrosse team cruised to a 19-9 win over the Guilford College Quakers on Saturday morning. The Falcons started the game strong with a 6-2 lead after the first quarter. The Quakers made a comeback in the second quarter, but the Falcons scored three straight goals going into the half to lead 10-6. The Falcons then outscored Guilford 4-3 in the third quarter to push their lead up to five headed into the final quarter. The Falcons dominated the fourth scoring five unanswered goals to win 19-9. Mike McKnelly led the Falcons with eight points on five goals and three assists. Chad Teresky also totaled eight points on four goals and four assists.
 
Up next, the Falcons travel to St. Mary's City, Md. to take on the Seahawks of St. Mary's College (Md.) on Saturday, March 23 at 6:00 p.m.

First Quarter
After a slow couple minutes for both offenses, the Falcons got two goals in a minute Seth Libby and Chad Teresky to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 9:57 remaining in the first. After another couple minutes of scoreless play, RJ Mellor added another goal to push the Falcons lead to 3-0 with seven minutes to play in the quarter. Two minutes later Guilford got on the board, but the Falcons responded with three goals in two minutes, led by a Mike McKnelly goal to push the Falcons lead to 6-1. The Quakers got a goal with just under two minutes and the Falcons took a 6-2 lead into the second quarter.
 
Second Quarter
The Quakers started the second quarter strong with two straight goals in the first five minutes to reduce the Falcons lead to two. The Falcons responded with an Owen Hammel goal from RJ Mellor to push the Falcons lead to 7-4 with 9:54 remaining in the half. The Quakers continued to battle and scored two more unanswered goals to reduce the Falcons lead to one with 7:27 in the half. The Falcons continued to respond with a three-goal run to end the half that started with a Mike McKnelly goal and ended with a Seth Libby goal from McKnelly to put the Falcons up 10-6 at the break.
 
Third Quarter
The Falcons started the second half strong with a man-up goal from Mike McKnelly by Chad Teresky to push the Falcons lead to five just 21 seconds into the third. The Quakers though would not go away and scored two straight goals to reduce the Falcons lead to three with 10:51 remaining in the third. The Falcons then scored three unanswered goals, with Bobby Berg scoring two goals in the stretch to push the Falcons lead to 14-8 with 1:36 remaining in the third. The Quakers scored a goal just six seconds later, and Guilford trailed the Falcons by five headed into the final quarter.
 
Fourth Quarter
The Falcons started the fourth quarter strong with a goal from Mike McKnelly to push the Falcons lead to 15-9 with 12:27 remaining in the game. The Falcons then finished the game strong with four more unanswered goals that was capped off by a Nate Liu goal from Chad Teresky to give the Falcons a 19-9 win.
 
Stats
Mike McKnelly led the Falcons with eight points on five goals and three assists and added two caused turnovers. Chad Teresky also totaled eight points on four goals and four assists. Bobby Berg and RJ Mellor each finished with two goals and an assist. Seth Libby also added two goals. David Gross led the Falcons defense with four caused turnovers and five ground balls. Walker Penchansky and Nate Jaloszynski each finished with two caused turnovers.Ben Antel finished with 11 faceoff wins with three groundballs. Jourdain Algarin earned the win in the cage and made 12 saves. Josh Grove also appeared in the cage for the Falcons.
 
Next
The Falcons travel to St. Mary's City, Md. to take on the Seahawks of St. Mary's College (Md.) on Saturday, March 23 at 6:00 p.m.