CHESTER, Pa. – The Messiah women's lacrosse team continued their strong play in conference games with a 15-7 victory over the Widener Pride on Wednesday night. The Falcons held a 6-3 lead at the break, but a stellar fourth quarter allowed Messiah to pull away for the eight-goal victory.
 
Grace Pettitt led the Falcons with seven points, scoring four goals and adding three assists. Hayley Lettinga finished with five points with a trio of assists and a pair of goals while Alina Bernal-Clark tied Pettitt for the team-high with four goals.
 
With the victory, Messiah improves to 4-0 in the conference and 6-8 overall. The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday when they take on the Stevenson Mustangs in Grantham at 1:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons held the upper hand throughout the majority of the opening half, scoring two goals to every one tally by the Pride. Messiah started the scoring with Alina Bernal-Clark finding the back of the cage less than a minute into the contest. Katie Bukiewicz was up next, doubling the Falcons lead to 2-0 midway through the first quarter. While Widener got on the board, Messiah finished the quarter on top with a score from Annalise Keitel with a minute left in the opening period and the Falcons held a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes of play.
 
The second quarter was bookended by Widener goals, but three Messiah scores in the middle of the period gave the Falcons a 6-3 lead at the break. Natalie Macri connected twice and Hayley Lettinga found the twine once to account for the three tallies. Grace Pettitt earned assists on both of Macri's goal in the quarter.
 
After the break, Widener and Messiah played a pretty level third quarter with each side scoring three times in the period. Lettinga, Bernal-Clark, and Pettitt connected for Messiah with the two teams trading goals throughout the stanza.
 
Alina Bernal-Clark scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to create a little breathing room for the Falcons, who led 9-6 entering the quarter. The scoring did not stop there as Natalie Macri scored her third goal of the evening and Grace Pettitt finished the game in a flurry, scoring three goals in the final 6:27 of the contest. Widener pushed a late goal across, but Messiah's impressive 7-1 run to end the game gave the Falcons the 15-7 victory.
 
In the game, Messiah held a 29-15 advantage in shots, including a 10-2 edge in the fourth quarter. Between the pipes, Mackenzie O'Haver collected seven saves to earn the victory.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons are back in action on Saturday when they host the Stevenson Mustangs at 1:00 p.m. on the Lacrosse Turf. Saturday's match will be an important one when it comes to potential MAC Commonwealth Tournament seeding.