ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's lacrosse team had a strong second half after a slow start with six goal scorers in a 15-9 defeat to Messiah University on a rainy Wednesday evening at Arnold Field in the team's final non-conference game of the year.
 
The Falcons used a strong first quarter to build a 5-0 lead over the Dutchmen. Messiah won the opening draw control and scored on their first possession. The Falcons doubled their lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal with 11:19 on the clock. The Dutchmen responded as Erin Zieber put away her 15th goal of the year a little over 30 seconds later to cut the lead in half. Zieber won the following draw control and put a shot on goal that was saved by the Falcon keeper. Messiah cleared the ball and scored to bring the lead back up to two goals. The Falcons added to their lead with 5:44 left in the quarter. The Falcons built the lead up to 5-1 with another goal with just under a minute and a half remaining.
 
Messiah continued their run into the second quarter scoring three times in the first five minutes to build an 8-1 advantage. Neither team was able to score over the next six minutes with each team taking a shot. Messiah broke the scoring drought with their ninth goal of the game with 3:26 left in the half. The Dutchmen finished the half strong as Bethany Cohee found Emily Beard over the middle for a goal and then Beard scored on a free position shot to bring the lead to 9-3 at the break.
 
The teams battled up and down the field to begin the second half as neither team allowed a shot on goal over the first half of the quarter. Messiah was able to score the first goal of the half with 7:43 remaining as they played a woman-up after a Dutchmen card. LVC struck right back as Zieber won the draw control and then Alyssa Wene drove to the net and scored. The junior won the following draw control and once again drove towards the goal but her shot went wide. The Falcons responded with a pair of goals to increase their lead to 12-4. Hana Neff cut the lead defect to seven as she scored the final goal of the quarter off a beautiful pass from Beard.
 
The Falcons came out of the quarter break strong and scored two goals in the first 4:03 of the final quarter to take their largest lead of the game at 14-5. The Dutchmen fought back valiantly with an impressive comeback attempt. Zieber started the comeback with her second goal of the game with just under nine to play. The Dutchmen scored a woman-up goal a little over a minute later as Beard send a pass to Elizabeth Morgan who finished in front of the crease for her first goal of the game. Wene made it a six-goal game with her second unassisted goal before Morgan found Anna Lougee for a goal with 4:42 on the clock forcing the Falcons to call a timeout. Messiah came out of the timeout and was able to hold the Dutchmen off the scoreboard the rest of the way while adding a goal with two minutes left to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• The Dutchmen held a 15-12 advantage in draw controls and completed 12 of 13 clear attempts.
• Beard recorded a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. She has now recorded at least one goal and at least one assist in seven games this year.
• Wene finished with two goals on five shots. She also won seven draw controls. The junior has scored multiple goals in each of the past five games.
• Zieber also scored two goals and had six draw controls. She has scored in all but two games this season.
• Morgan had a goal and an assist with her seventh multi-point game of the year.
• Lougee scored for the sixth consecutive game while Neff tallied her fifth goal of the year and third in the past four games.
• Hayley Cowles picked up a team-high four ground balls.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will open up conference play on Saturday with a trip up I-81 to Wilkes-Barre where they will face King's College at McCarthy Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the Monarchs in the first meeting between the programs since a 19-9 Dutchmen victory on Arnold field in 2021.

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