GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's lacrosse team wrapped up the non-conference schedule with a tough 21-10 defeat at Messiah University on Thursday evening in Grantham. The Dutchmen had six goal scorers in the game.
 
The Dutchmen won the opening faceoff and scored 36 seconds into the game as John Lux found Alex Kiviniemi open over the middle. The Falcons (7-3) responded with two goals over the next five minutes to take a 2-1 lead. The teams battled up and down the field until Trey Ralston tied things up with an unassisted goal with 6:37 to go in the quarter. Messiah struck right back 11 seconds later to retake the lead.
 
The Dutchmen took advantage of a Messiah penalty as Jake Bollinger caused a turnover on a clear attempt and then found Ralston open in front of the net to even the score at three. Once again Messiah struck right back with a quick goal after the faceoff. LVC returned the favor six seconds later as Colin Hughes scored off an assist by Ralston. Ethan Keenan then gave LVC a 5-4 lead with the ninth goal of the quarter off another assist by Ralston with 49 second left.
 
LVC started the second quarter strong as Bollinger tallied another goal on the opening possession of the quarter off an assist from Alex Kiviniemi on an extra man opportunity. John Lux then gave the Dutchmen a 7-4 lead with 12:52 remaining off another assist from Kiviniemi. The Falcons called a timeout as the momentum was on the side of the Dutchmen with a strong start to the quarter. Messiah came out of the timeout and slowly were able to gain back the momentum on their home turf with three consecutive goals to even the score up at seven with 6:51 on the clock. The Falcons then scored a pair of goals within 40 seconds of each other to take a 9-7 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Falcons came out of the break with three goals in the first five minutes to epand the lead to five goals. Lux stopped the run of Messiah goals with a man-up goal off a pass from Rowan Myers. The Falcons responded with the next five goals over a span of five minutes to take a 17-8 lead. Bollinger cut the lead to 17-9 heading into the fourth as he completed his hat trick with 25 seconds left off an assist from Dylan Rinyak.
 
The teams traded goals to begin the fourth as Ralston found Bollinger with 12:28 remaining to make it 18-10 in favor of the Falcons. The Dutchmen fought valiantly over the final 12 minutes, but Messiah was able to score three times to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Bollinger recorded his third straight hat trick with three goals and an assist on nine shots. He had one man-up goal and picked up four ground balls.
• Ralston had five points on two goals and three assists. He has recorded three assists in a game four times this year.
• Kiviniemi had three points on a goal and two assists. He has recorded a multi-point game in nine games this year.
• Lux had two goals and an assist for three points. The graduate student has scored in nine games and has a point in all 10 games this season.
• Miles Synder won 13 faceoffs and picked up eight ground balls.
• Zach Wanous picked up four ground balls and caused a turnover.
• Sheadan Makosy led the defensive effort with seven caused turnovers.
• LVC outshot Messiah 48-43.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will play their first-ever MAC Freedom game next Saturday as they host King's College on Arnold Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. against the Monarchs.

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