GRANTHAM, Pa. -- The best season in Albright women's lacrosse history came to an end on Wednesday in the semifinals of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament as the Lions dropped a 15-4 decision to top-seeded Messiah at the Starry Athletic Complex.
Albright had a season of firsts on its way to advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Lions finished the year with a school-record 11 wins, hosted a MAC Commonwealth Tournament game for the first time in school history, won a MAC Commonwealth Tournament game for the first time in school history and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the first time.
Albright, which concluded the season with an 11-7 overall record, trailed only 4-2 at halftime but Messiah outscored the Lions 11-2 in the second half to advance to Saturday's championship game.
Junior
Mariah Cullen scored two goals to lead the Lions, while
Amanda Smith and
Sophie Bass each tallied a goal for Albright. For Smith the goal increased her career total to 200, making her the first player in school history to reach the milestone.
Senior
Emily Hutson played in her final game in goal for the Lions and she held high-scoring Messiah to just four goals in the first period and made six saves on the day.
Messiah, which improved to 13-5 on the season, was led by Jenna Stover and Courtney Wagner who each scored three goals, while Stephanie Athens tallied two markers.
Messiah jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period before Albright fought back.
Cullen got the Lions on the scoreboard at the 12:19 of the first when she scored an unassisted goal to trim the lead to 3-1.
Smith followed with her 200th career goal at the 11:20 mark to bring Albright to within 3-2.
Stover then tallied a goal for the Falcons to increase the lead to 4-2 at the intermission.
Messiah opened the second period with three consecutive goals before Bass scored for Albright to cut the lead to 7-3 with 22:21 to play in the second.
Messiah then broke the game open by scoring seven consecutive goals to increase the lead to 14-3 with 10:00 to play in the contest.
Cullen then tallied her second goal of the game at the 1:40 mark to cap the scoring for Albright.
