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King's Provides Little Resistance As Falcons Move To Post-Season
Freshman Rachel Dirksen was one of five Falcons to finish multiple goals Saturday afternoon at King's.

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The Messiah women’s lacrosse team closed out its regular-season Saturday afternoon at King’s College, handing a severely undermanned Monarchs’ side a 17-1 defeat.

Playing with a total of just nine players, King’s (0-15, 0-11) was dominated in every statistical category, even as Messiah (12-4, 10-1) rested several regulars in preparation for the upcoming MAC Playoffs. The Falcons ripped 25 shots to King’s two and captured 18 of the game’s 19 draw controls.

Naturally, the scoreboard quickly got lopsided. Freshman Rachel Dirksen scored the first of her team-leading three goals just over two minutes into play, beginning a 10-0 Messiah run that would extend through the halftime break. Freshman Beth Hendricks tacked on two first-half goals — both off assists from Dirksen — while Lawrence added all three of her scores in the game’s first 30 minutes as well.

King’s scored its lone goal of the day just under two minutes into the second half, but that was merely an aberration: Messiah finished the game with another strong surge — this one a 7-0 variety — as things were never remotely interesting.

Sophomore and usual defender Elizabeth Graham scored her first two goals of the season in a rare midfield performance, while sophomore Keri Nickles and Hendricks each scored twice as well. Sophomore Andrea Thomas, senior Jackie Dando, senior Betsy Tyson, freshman Jess Stevens and freshman Meghan Doolittle all added goals as well. For Thomas, Tyson and Stevens, it was their first scores of the year.

Newly-acquired senior goalie Brindley Beckwith picked up the decision in the cage, going all 60 minutes without being tested.

Messiah now moves on to much tougher competition, as the team will enter next week’s MAC Tournament as the second seed. By virtue of finishing among the league’s top two teams, the Falcons receive a first-round bye in the six-team field, and will face the top remaining seed at Anderson Field Thursday afternoon.

Third-seed FDU-Florham will host sixth-seed Manhattanville College Tuesday, while fourth-seeded Eastern University will host five-seed Lycoming College. Elizabethtown College — the conference’s top seed with an unbeaten league record in regular-season play — will host the lowest remaining seed Thursday.

Regardless of who Messiah winds up playing, the team’s MAC Semi-Final time and location are set: The Falcons will be back in action at Anderson Field Thursday afternoon. Game time is 4 p.m.