READING, Pa. – The Albright Field Hockey Team gave the No.1 team in Division III, the Messiah Falcons, everything they could handle in a 2-1 overtime loss on Thursday in MAC Commonwealth play on Senior Night.

Despite the loss, the Lions record now stands at 8-8 with a 4-3 record in MAC Commonwealth play. They will enter the MAC Commonwealth Tournament as the four-seed next week. Meanwhile, the defending national champion Falcons stay undefeated at 16-0 overall with a 7-0 record in conference play after getting their toughest challenge to date from the Lions.

Messiah got the ball rolling early as they struck first just 1:39 into the game with a goal from Karalyn Schmidt off a penalty corner opportunity. The swarming Falcons continued to heavily pressure Lions goalkeeper Aileen Taylor in the opening minutes, but she stood tall with a couple of impressive saves. Carissa Gehman, the third-leading goal scorer in the country, had a hard shot saved by Taylor before senior Carly Hollinger made a defensive save after the ball got past Taylor in the eighth minute. Albright then did something that only one MAC Commonwealth team had done all season in the 18^th minute of the game, score on Messiah. Senior Amanda Long pushed the ball past the Falcon goalkeeper after a pass from classmate Tracy Snyder on an offensive rush for her ninth goal of the season. It was the first goal the Falcons had given up five games, and the first time they had been locked in a tie since a contest against nationally-ranked Salisbury on September 9^th. The Lions nearly struck again on a slow rolling ball in the 24^th minute that rolled past the keeper, but it was turned away by a Falcon defender. Messiah then earned a penalty stroke at the 26:55 minute mark that Taylor brilliantly saved to keep the game tied at one. Taylor then finished off the half with two more strong saves on consecutive chances in the 33^rd minute.

The Falcons held a dominant 14-3 shot advantage after one, but could not break through a valiant effort from the Lions. In the second half, Albright's defense impressively shut down the Falcons by limiting the many scoring chances they had in the first half. The Lions even got a huge scoring chance in the 55^th minute when Long broke free when she left the sidelines after receiving a green card. Senior Tracy Snyder joined Long on the rush and sent a long pass from the right wing to Long in the left circle, but it was just knocked away. The Lions then turned away one last play after a penalty corner opportunity to force overtime.

In overtime, Albright was on its heels early and needed another great save from Taylor in the 72^nd minute to keep the game tied. The Lions then lost senior Cassidy Barrow on a yellow card 20 seconds later which left the Falcons on a 6-on-5 advantage. The Falcons crashed the net with three straight shots which led to another penalty stroke opportunity to potentially end the game. Taylor turned away the shot from Gehman to keep the game going. Messiah finally ended the game at the 74:04 mark when Nicole Wilkerson pushed a shot between Taylor's pads on an offensive rush.

Messiah held a 22-4 overall shot advantage for the game after out=shooting the Lions 6-0 in overtime. The Falcons also held a 10-2 advantage in penalty corners as well. Taylor made 11 saves in a brilliant performance, while Falcon goalkeeper Shelby Landes made one save while playing the full game.

The Lions will conclude the regular season on Saturday, October 26^th when they will travel to face McDaniel in non-conference action at 1 p.m. before a rematch with Messiah next week in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament.