Box Score

GRANTHAM, Pa. – Messiah College tallied 10 first half goals and held off the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's lacrosse team in the second stanza for an 18-8 victory in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.  The Falcons – who are ranked 10th nationally – improve to 16-3 on the season and will face the winner of the Colby/Endicott contest.  The Engineers conclude their outstanding season with a 16-2 mark.
 
Messiah set the tone early as senior Rachel Dirksen (Glenside, PA/Abington) – the team's leading scorer – fired one in over the shoulder of Engineers netminder Allie Arnal (Lakewood, NY/Phillips Exeter Academy) just 13 seconds into the game off the draw control.  Dirksen made it a 2-0 advantage for the home team less than two minutes later and a free position shot off the stick of Kiersten McGreer (Edgewater, MD/Annapolis Area Christian) saw the Falcons hold a 3-0 lead.
 
The Engineers finally got on the board as sophomore Marissa Page (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) netted her 24th of the season off a nice feed across the front by senior Emma Albert (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) at 25:18, but the momentum was short-lived as junior Gabrielle Hamelryck (Annapolis, MD) connected off a pass from Jaime Gerhart (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) and junior Cecilia Kjellman (Phippsburg, ME/Brunswick) pushed in an unassisted tally with 22:29 to play for a 5-1 Falcons' lead.
 
Messiah would score three more goals to make it an 8-1 advantage before sophomore Meg Colitz (East Greenwich, RI/LaSalle Academy) sent a shot straight down the middle past Falcons netminder Kelsey Luck (Purcellville, VA/Loudoun Valley). 
 
Following the goal, RPI made a change in the cage, switching to senior Muryum Khalid (Avon, CT/Miss Porter's), but Messiah continued to press, tallying two more goals – both off the stick of sophomore Lizzy Keeney (Cockeysville, MD/Dulaney) to build up a 10-2 lead. 
 
Rensselaer began to close the gap with 9:06 left to play after sophomore Rachel Scofield (Albany, NY/Colonie) pushed her way through the right side from behind the net for a high shot past Luck. 
 
Arnal returned to the net for RPI following the third goal and made several outstanding stops in the late stages to keep it at a seven-goal deficit at the halftime break.
 
The Engineers came out renewed in the second half, playing solid defense through the first seven minutes.  RPI closed the gap to 10-4 at the 22:59 mark as rookie Lauren Miller (North Andover, MA/North Andover) passed it to Page, who fired it in low down front.
 
Messiah answered less than a minute later as senior Meghan Doolittle (Tabernacle, NJ/Seneca), followed by the third of the game from Dirksen to make it a 12-4 contest with 19:52 remaining.  The Engineers continued to battle with 14:27 left in the game as junior captain Shannon Maguire (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) barreled through traffic and fired one in, but the Falcons retaliated less than a minute later off another goal by Doolittle for the eight-goal lead (13-5).
 
Colitz came up big, cutting the deficit to 13-6 at 11:22 with an unassisted tally through the left side.  Maguire followed to make it a six-goal differential after she netted a goal on the free position, but Doolittle answered to push the score to 14-7 with 6:43 left to play in the game and the Falcons got four more goals over the final stretch to secure the win.
 
For Rensselaer, Colitz finished with two goals and an assist for a team-high three points.  Page added a pair of goals, while Arnal suffered the loss, stopping 12 shots.  Khalid stopped one shot during her 11:48 minutes of relief over the first and second halves.