GRANTHAM, Pa. – On Saturday afternoon, the Messiah University men's lacrosse team dropped a tight defensive battle to the Ospreys of Stockton University, 12-8. The first quarter was tight as both teams scored two goals to keep the game tied. The Ospreys outscored the Falcons in the second by two to take a 6-4 lead into the half. The Ospreys outscored the Falcons 3-2 in both the third and the fourth quarter to earn the 12-8 win. Bobby Berg led the Falcons with five points on a hat-trick and two assists. Owen Hammel scored two goals. Grant Peffall led the Falcons defense with four caused turnovers.
 
Up next, the Falcons travel to Annville, Pa. to take on the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m.

First Quarter
After almost five minutes of scoreless play the Falcons took a 1-0 lead with a Bobby Berg goal. The Ospreys tied the game with 7:32 remaining in the first, but the Falcons quickly answered with another goal from Berg from Jesse Lynch to give back the Falcons the lead with seven minutes remaining in the first. The Ospreys though tied the game at two with a goal with just 17 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
 
Second Quarter
Once again, the Falcons got the first goal in a quarter with a Mike McKnelly goal with 10:38 remaining in the half to give the Falcons a 3-2 lead. The Ospreys then scored three straight goals in a minute to give Stockton their first lead of the game. The Falcons then cut the deficit to one with a Ben Ferrell goal from Chad Teresky with 4:07 remaining in the second. The Ospreys finished the second quarter with a goal to give Stockton a 6-4 lead at the break.
 
Third Quarter
The third quarter started similar to the first two quarters with the first goal coming after five minutes of play. This time the Ospreys opened the quarter with a goal to push their lead to three with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third. The Falcons then responded with a man-up goal from Bobby Berg by Chad Teresky reduce the Ospreys lead down to two. The Ospreys though quickly got the three-goal lead back with a man-down goal with six minutes remaining in the third. The back-and-forth play continued as Owen Hammel scored an unassisted goal with 4:27 remaining in the quarter. The Ospreys though ended the third with a goal to push their back to three headed into the final quarter.
 
Fourth Quarter
Stockton opened the fourth with the first three goals to take a 12-6 lead with 8:23 remaining in the game. The Falcons looked to comeback but only could add two final goals in the final eight minutes with Michael Cook and Owen Hammel both scoring a goal for the Falcons to put the final score a 12-8.
 
Stats
Bobby Berg led the Falcons with five points on a hat-trick and two assists. Owen Hammel scored two goals. Chad Teresky dished out two assists. Grant Peffall led the Falcons defense with four caused turnovers. Eric Hoover and Walker Penchansky each added two caused turnovers. Ben Antel went 12-of-21 from the faceoff X with a team-high six ground balls. Aidan Hickey played most of the game in the cage for the Falcons with four saves.
 
Next
The Falcons travel to Annville, Pa. to take on the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m.