GRANTHAM, Pa. -- The Bridgewater College men's lacrosse team fell to Messiah, 17-11, at the Messiah Lacrosse Turf on Wednesday afternoon.

THE BASICS
Final Score: Messiah 17, Bridgewater 11
Records: Bridgewater 3-3; Messiah 3-2

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Eagles took advantage of an early offside penalty by the Falcons as Luke Wendler netted a man-up goal after getting a pass from Trevor McClelland to put BC up 1-0 at the 13:29 mark of the first. Messiah was quick to respond as Seth Libby tied the game at 1-1 and started a four-goal run to end the first quarter as the home side led 4-1 after 15 minutes. The goal streak continued as the Falcons got the first three goals of the second quarter to take a 7-1 lead. McClelland used an assist from Tyler Pinto to end the Eagles' goal drought and cut into the lead, 7-2. Two more goals from Messiah set the score at 9-2 as the game went to the halftime break.
• The Falcons scored two more in the early minutes of the second half before McClelland got his second goal of the game as the scoreline moved to 11-3. Messiah tallied back-to-back man-up goals to increase the lead to 10 goals at 13-3, but a goal from Pinto brought the deficit back down to nine goals with 6:16 left in the third quarter. One more goal from the Falcons fro Bobby Berg made it 14-4 heading into the last period of regulation.
• Drew Huber started the scoring in the fourth as he scored unassisted less than a minute into the final period. The Falcons got the goal back, but Huber struck for his second at the 10 minute mark on an assist from Hayden Gourley. A Messiah goal maintained a 10-goal edge before Riley Stewart registered a goal at the five minute mark. The home team reached its 17-goal mark with 2:53 left in the game and the Eagles scored four-unanswered goals in less than two minutes. Grant Nyland scored before Huber got his second off a feed from Gabriel Alexander just seven seconds later. As the game clock ticked inside the last minute of play, Huber scored his fourth of the quarter on an assist from Colby Smith and Nyland added one more with 30 seconds to go. The Eagles ran out of time to continue the comeback as the game ended with Messiah in front, 17-11.

GAME STATS

• Despite the loss, Alexander re-set his own program records with an incredible 25-for-31 performance at the faceoff X. His 25 faceoff wins resets his previous record of 24 (vs. Randolph, 3/7/2023) and he scooped up 23 ground balls to break his previous record of 20 from the same game last season. Alexander also added an assist in the contest. On the season, Alexander has eclipsed 100 faceoff wins and leads the conference with 30 more victories than second place and also has doubled up the second-most ground balls in the league, as well. Last week, Alexander claimed the career ground ball record for Bridgewater and now owns the single-game, single-season and career mark for the category. He's now 16 faceoff wins shy of tying the team's career faceoff record (Mason Gauntt, 561 (2018-21)).
• Huber led the team offensively with four goals as they all came in the fourth quarter. 
• McClelland and Nyland each scored a pair of goals, while Wendler, Stewart and Pinto had one apiece. 
• Gourley added to his team lead with a pair of assists, while McClelland, Pinto, Alexander and Smith all had one helper.
• Wendler also had six ground balls, while Ryan Linn scooped up four and Stewart, Jacob Mead and Gabe Wallman all had three each. 
• The team combined for 12 caused turnovers led by Grant Heidebrecht and Clay Lawrence who each had two. Wendler, Mead, Wallman, Pinto, Nyland, Brennan McKeown, Jackson Wicker and Sean Kelly all had one. 
• Wallman stopped 13 shots as he was in the cage for 57 minutes of action. Meanwhile, Messiah goalies Jourdain Algarin, Brock Roe and Sam Lightner combined for 11 saves with Algarin leading the way with six stops. 
• Messiah out shot Bridgewater 53-42, while BC had a 57-36 edge in ground balls. 
• Messiah was 3-for-5 in extra-man opportunites and held Bridgewater to just 1-for-9 in man-up situations. 

UP NEXT
Bridgewater returns home against Allegheny on Saturday, March 9, as the second half of a lacrosse doubleheader beginning at 4 pm.