Box Score
Reading, PA – It was tale of two halves for the Messiah College women's lacrosse team on Saturday against Alvernia University.
The first half was a close contest that saw the Falcons take a 6-5 lead into halftime. During the first half Messiah only outshot the Crusaders 22-15 and were in a deficit of 8 in groundballs.
Head coach
Heather Greer must know a thing or two about halftime speeches because the second half was all Messiah.
The Falcons turned first half mistakes, into second half opportunities and outscored Alvernia 15-1. Moreover, Messiah held the Crusaders to only four shots and won the second half draw controls by nine.
“In the first half we just were not transitioning and making the connections that we needed to,” Greer stated. “The second we learned to adapt and make calculated risks instead of forcing the situation.”
The Falcons did just that as
Meghan Doolittle and
Lizzy Keeney scored four goals each and both players added three in the second frame.
For the game Messiah had five players score at least three goals and four more tallied on another for the Falcons.
Highlighting the game for Greer's squad was senior attacker
Meghan Doolittle who scored four goals and added an assist.
Rachel Coyle also played well for Messiah. She was able to dictate the draw control in the second period, which led to Messiah ultimately running away with the game.
“R.C. was phenomenal on the draw control in the second half,” Greer added. “She hustled more and forced her teammates to raise their energy and focus during the game.”
Goalie
Taylor Phillips cannot go without mentioning as she kept the Falcons in the first half. She had seven saves in the first frame and kept the lead for Messiah going into the half.
With this win Messiah moves to 4-0 in the conference and 12-2 overall.
“This was a great game for us, and one in which we needed to adapt and refocus in order to win,” Greer said. “We will use everything that we have learned so far to prepare for the end of the season and as we make a push into the conference tournament.”
Messiah's final two regular season games are on their home turf of Anderson Field. This Wednesday they face Lycoming at 5:00 p.m. and next Saturday they square off against Albright at 1:00 p.m.
