EWING, N.J. – The Messiah Women's Lacrosse team opened the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament with a 21-8 win over the Lancers of Worchester St on Saturday, May 9. Messiah held a 7-2 lead after the first quarter and quickly extended their lead to 13-5 at the half. The Falcons outscored the Lancers 8-3 in the second half to take the 21-8 win to advance to a second-round match-up against host The College of New Jersey at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 10.
Hayley Lettinga led the Falcons with eight goals while
Hannah Gawne and
Grace Pettitt each tallied five goals and two assists.
Abby Welchans added three goals.
Grace Hejeebu made 11 saves in goal.
The Falcons return to the field at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 10 against The College of New Jersey in Second Round action.
First Quarter
Grace Pettitt fired an early shot on goal that was saved before
Hannah Gawne collected the ground ball and continued possession for the Falcons. Pettitt then fired a shot on goal past the goalie to give Messiah a 1-0 lead. Worcester St. gained the draw control and fired a shot on goal, but
Grace Hejeebu made the save. After two minutes of play,
Hayley Lettinga found the back of the goal for a 2-0 Messiah lead just four minutes into play. After a timeout by Worcester St., the Lancers were able to find the back of the cage to cut the deficit back to one.
Hayley Lettinga was quick to answer with her second goal of the game to bring the Messiah lead to 3-1. The next four minutes had shots traded by the teams with Hejeebu making a pair of saves before Messiah tallied three goals in a minute. After
Grace Pettitt found the back of the net,
Dani Sauder found
Hayley Lettinga then
Abby Welchans to give Messiah a 6-1 lead with 4:26 to play. After some back-and-forth play,
Hannah Gawne found
Grace Pettitt for a goal before the Lancers tallied a goal for a 7-2 Messiah lead after the first quarter.
Second Quarter
The Lancers tallied the first goal of the second quarter before nearly five minutes of play back and forth. The Lancers then tallied a pair of goals to cut the deficit back to two at 7-5 in Messiah's favor. In the last 7:30 of the first half, Messiah tallied six unanswered goals to take a 13-5 lead into half. The run was kickstarted by unassisted goals from
Hayley Lettinga and
Abby Welchans before
Hannah Gawne found
Grace Pettitt for the 10-5 lead with 5:40 to play. After a save by
Grace Hejeebu,
Dani Sauder found Lettinga before the Lancers secured the draw control. A turnover caused by
Brynn Johnsen and recovered by
Addyson Wagman led to a goal for
Grace Pettitt from
Annalise Keitel.
Grace Hejeebu made a pair of saves before Keitel found Gawne to give the Falcons a 13-5 lead going into halftime.
Third Quarter
After an early save from
Grace Hejeebu,
Annalise Keitel found
Hannah Gawne for a goal before
Grace Pettitt found Gawne to extend the Falcons lead to 15-5 with 13:01 to play. The Lancers tallied a goal as Messiah had three shots on goal saved before
Hayley Lettinga found the back of the net for a 16-5 lead. Just over a minute later, Lettinga struck again to extend the lead to 17-6.
Annalise Keitel found
Hannah Gawne for a goal before
Grace Hejeebu made a save to maintain the 18-6 Messiah lead with one quarter to play.
Fourth Quarter
Hayley Lettinga tallied a goal a minute into play before the Lancers took advantage of a man-up situation.
Grace Hejeebu made a save as play continued back-and-forth between the teams before
Abby Welchans converted a free position attempt to give Messiah the 20-7 lead with 7:06 to play. With 3:42 to play,
Grace Pettitt found
Hannah Gawne for a 21-7 lead. After a save from Hejeebu, the Lancers capitalized on a free position attempt to tally a late goal and bring the final score to 21-8 in favor of Messiah.
Stats
Hayley Lettinga led the Falcons with eight goals while
Hannah Gawne and
Grace Pettitt each tallied five goals and two assists.
Abby Welchans added three goals.
Grace Hejeebu made 11 saves in goal. Gawne added six draw controls, four ground balls, and two caused turnovers.
Brynn Johnsen tallied six ground balls, two caused turnovers, and a ground ball.
Up Next
The Falcons return to the field at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 10 against The College of New Jersey in Second Round action.
