GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright Lions field hockey team fell behind two goals in the first half, and was unable to fight back from there as they were eliminated from the MAC Commonwealth Tournament by No.1 Messiah on Wednesday night by a score of 5-0.

With the loss, the Lions drop to 9-9 on the season and will now await if their season will continue in the ECAC Tournament on the Monday selection show. Meanwhile, the Falcons improve to 18-0 on the season and will look to win their 11^th straight MAC Commonwealth title on Saturday against Alvernia.

Just as they did in Thursday's matchup at Albright, Messiah turned up the pressure early on which led to a goal in the 5^th minute from Kaylor Rosenberry that was started from a penalty corner. The Falcons continued to dominate throughout the first half, but was unable to extend its lead with most of the shots going wide. They finally found the back of the net off extreme pressure in the 27^th minute off a rebound to bring the score to 2-0. Messiah recorded a staggering 24-0 shot advantage over the Lions in the first half.
Carissa Gehman, the third-leading scorer in Division III, extended the Falcons lead to 3-0 just two minutes into the second half after being set-up by a penalty corner opportunity.

Two minutes later, Messiah scored again to make it 4-0 on a goal from Taylor Holt. The Falcons would score one last time in the 53^rd minute on a goal from Megan Wetzel on a hard shot in the circle.

The Falcons held a dominant 44-0 shot advantage after tallying 20 shots in the second half, and held a 13-0 advantage in penalty corners. Junior goalkeeper Aileen Taylor suffered the loss despite making a season-high 14 saves in the full 70 minutes of play. Messiah goalkeeper Shelby Landes earned the win with just over 65 minutes of shutout play and was relieved by Megan Bomba, who played the final four minutes of the game.