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LOCAL College: Messiah men still looking for first win
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Article RatingMissed opportunities.
That was the difference for the Messiah Falcons as they hosted 14th-ranked Hampden-Sydney College in men's lacrosse Wednesday at Anderson Field in Grantham. They dropped a close 7-5 decision in the home opener, despite outshooting the Tigers 29-27.
“I think we had better shots and I think that we had shots right in front of the cage and I thought we had plenty of opportunities to really put this game away and just didn't do it,” second-year Falcon head coach Geof Weisenborn said. “Our offense was patient when they needed to and pushed transition when we needed to and took advantage of it. When we made mistakes, they made us pay, but we didn't do that with their mistakes.”
Messiah (0-2) jumped out first as senior attackman Andrew Collins spun away from a defender and slung one past the Tiger keeper for the 1-0 advantage. Unfortunately for the Falcons, it would be their only lead as Hampden-Sydney goalie Scott Russell proved to be the difference throughout the game.
Russell contributed 14 saves, many off tough angles.
Hampden-Sydney (4-0 overall) scored the next four goals over the rest of the period and the initial moments of the second quarter.
Messiah hurt themselves with a couple of key turnovers, but really put no dangerous shots on goal.
The second quarter featured more play on the Falcons' side of the field as they controlled the ball and worked for good shots. Alex Finch found a cross and ripped a shot that caromed off Russell's shoulder and the crossbar and out of bounds. Moments later, Finch converted on a feed from Collins into the upper-right corner to cut the margin to 4-2.
Tiger William Shell converted at the other end on an assist from Andrew Mahoney to stretch the lead back to three at halftime.
Messiah reverted back to some simple mistakes as they dropped a couple of passes and didn't convert on their chances.
Messiah maintained ball possession and limited the opportunities for Hampden-Sydney, but they couldn't close the deficit. Good ball movement allowed the Tigers to regain their three-goal advantage when Kelly Mattie found the net on a feed from Shell. Mattie tallied two goals on the day while Shell tallied one and added two assists. Ryan Harrington had a hat trick for the Tigers.
The Falcons tried to take the game down to the wire as they tallied twice in the early part of the fourth stanza to close the margin to 6-5 and had several possessions to try to tie the contest. Russell had two big stops and a third resulted in a Messiah turnover as a dropped pass was picked up and raced the other direction.
The Falcons had one last chance with a man-advantage on a Tiger penalty but they never got a shot off on goal. Harrington scored his third goal at the 4:50 mark and the Tigers were able to run out the clock.
“Their goalie played well because he got the shots that I'm not used to seeing goalies get to,” Weisenborn said. “We need to work on finishing shots because we were getting the shots from 3 or 4 yards and you have to finish those in lacrosse. Those weren't automatic for us today.”
Collins scored one goal and added three assists for the Falcons. Ryan Finch scored his first collegiate goal for the Falcons in the fourth stanza. and older brother Alex scored twice for the Falcons.
NCAA Division II
Swimming Championships
Lady Raider relay team places 14th
The Shippensburg Lady Raider 200-yard medley relay team earned Honorable Mention All-America status with a 14th-place finish, highlighting the team's first day at the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday.
It is the second-straight year in which a Lady Raider team earned All-America honors in the event. The team, comprised of freshman Whitney Garner, senior Jill Snyder, sophomore Mandi Foltz and sophomore Theresa Simcic posted a qualifying time and school-record mark of 1:47.93 earlier this year and finished in second at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
Action at the national championships resumes today at 10:22 a.m.
Softball
Shippensburg 4, Minnesota-Duluth 0
Massachusetts Lowell 2, Shippensburg 0
Junior Dani Shields threw her first shutout of the season and the 14th of her career as the No. 15-ranked Shippensburg softball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday at the Rebel Spring Games.
In their second game, the Lady Raiders (7-5) committed four errors and had just two hits in dropping a 2-0 decision to Massachusetts Lowell. It was Shippensburg's fourth loss in the last five games.
In game one, Shields managed to keep Minnesota Duluth at bay, striking out five batters while walking one. The Bulldogs (6-6) managed to total nine hits against the Lady Raiders' top pitcher, but stranded 10 runners on base as Shields picked up her fourth win of the season and improved her career mark to 33-12 while raising her career strikeout total to 371.
In game two versus UMass Lowell, who entered the season ranked No. 25 in the NFCA Division II Preseason Top 25 Poll, Shippensburg could only manage a season-low two hits while committing season-high four errors.
Baseball
Dickinson 11, Simpson 10
Simpson 7, Dickinson 6
The Dickinson College baseball team overcame an eight-run deficit in the bottom of the final inning to post an 11-10 victory over Simpson College on Tuesday. The Red Devils entered the seventh inning, trailing 10-3. They erupted for eight runs, including six with two outs, to win the opening game of the double-header 11-10.
Junior Chris McInerney drove in Fran Grunde to tie the game, then scored off a game-winning RBI single by Dustin Cohen. McInerney recorded both of his hits in the seventh, leading-off the inning with a single as well.
Rob Gilcrest went 2-for-3.
