Messiah Wraps Up Regular Season With Another 17-Goal Eruption
Sophomore Betsy Caprio scored two and recovered four ground balls in Messiah's latest win.

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Things couldn’t have finished much better for the Messiah College women’s lacrosse team Saturday afternoon, as the squad completed regular-season play with its third straight win in a 17-5 decision at King’s College.

Messiah (10-6, 6-2) led by a 10-2 score at halftime while going on to pummel the King’s defense for a total 44 shots on the afternoon, scoring 17 goals for the third consecutive game.

The Falcons now take their heavy offense into the MAC Conference Playoffs, where the team will meet Elizabethtown College as the third seed in the four-team event.

“I’m pleased with our conference play overall this year but we never want to settle for where we are as a group,” said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. “We are constantly challenging each other to get to that next level, and I think we did that today.”

Greer’s squad began the latest chapter of its scoring onslaught just 50 seconds into Saturday’s match, as freshman Kara Geiman took a pass from sophomore Nikki Lawrence to put Messiah’s first point on the board with 29:10 to play in the first half. Messiah responded with three more scores before King’s could mount any type of offense, while a 5-0 Falcons’ run closed the half, making it a 10-2 ballgame.

Greer’s group led 14-2 just eight minutes into the second half, and the only remaining question was how many goals would Messiah generate. After a brief, 3-0 King’s push midway through the second half, the Falcons concluded with three goals in the game’s final 13:32, landing the team on its habitual 17-goal output.

Geiman and senior Bethany Moskevitz shared high goal-scoring honors with four apiece, while junior Jackie Dando, sophomore Betsy Caprio and freshman Megan Bovenzi each tallied two. Caprio teamed with senior Kirsytn Wheeler and freshman Elizabeth Graham to pick up four ground balls, while junior Brianne Brennan forced five turnovers. Graham caused four. Collectively, Messiah won 19 draw controls, while picking up 24 ground balls to King’s 11.

Greer said that — ironically — her squad has been using its last loss (a 14-7 defeat at Elizabethtown Apr. 17) as a barometer of what needed to change within the team dynamic.

“Ever since we got beat by E’Town we have been working hard to switch up some things defensively today and in our game against King’s we finally put all of those changes into play,” Greer said. “We just need to continue to be patient and keep better control of our sticks so we do not foul. To beat E’Town we need to shut down two of their offensive powerhouses and I now believe we are much better prepared than before.”

Messiah will travel to Elizabethtown Wednesday afternoon, with game time set for 4 p.m. The winner of that contest will then face the winner of the Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham – Lycoming College game, at a place and time to be determined.

“Offensively we have been putting up a lot of points with some isolations but we know we won't be able to do that against E’Town,” Greer said. “They have a really good doubling defense that will not allow us to drive into the 8(-meter) so we will look to feed the ball a lot more. Not many times do you get a chance for redemption in a season, a chance to beat a team that already beat you earlier. We get our chance at E’Town again, which we are thankful for. We feel we are much more prepared to face them this time. We are looking forward to this opportunity.”