YORK, PA – The York College women's lacrosse team dropped a 13-2 decision at the hands of visiting Messiah College Tuesday evening. The non-conference loss sets the Spartans back to 2-4 on the year while the Falcons even their season mark at 1-1.
      Messiah jumped out front 4:07 into the game as Messiah's Nikki Lawrence notched the contest's first goal of the game. Following a Messiah yellow card that left the Falcons down a player, Lawrence reversed the apparent Spartan momentum to the Falcon side as she tallied the man-down goal to gain the 1-0 lead.
      Junior midfielder Megan Foy (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) knotted the game at one at the 23:01 mark. The captain scored her team-leading 13th goal of the season to lock the score at one.
      Following Foy's goal, Messiah responded with an extended 5-0 spurt which covered most of the first half. Jackie Dando gave the Falcons the lead at 22:22 mark with an unassisted score. Now up 2-1, Messiah would not relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game.
      Megan Bovenzi and Rachel Dirksen backed up Dando's tally with scores of their own with 20:49 and 19:51 remaining. Lawrence completed the run with two more scores at the 6:54 and 5:51 marks to give the Falcons a commanding 6-1 lead.
      Foy cut the Messiah lead to 6-2 with only three seconds remaining in the half. Following a Falcon turnover, the Spartans had a successful clear before Foy finished for the 14th time this season.
      The second frame was all Falcons as the visitors tallied seven unanswered scores. Rachel Coyle posted two scores in the latter half while Lawrence scored the 13th and final goal of the game.
      For the game, Messiah held a significant 34-19 margin in shots including a 19-9 advantage in the first half. The Falcons also won the ground ball battle 20-11.
      Lawrence paced the Falcons with five points on four goals and one assist. Bovenzi, Dirksen, and Coyle each scored twice while Messiah posted a total of four assists. Brianne Brennan led her squad with six caused turnovers and five ground balls. Goalkeeper Jen Venter made eight saves over her 60 minutes.
      Foy's two goals add to her team-high 15 scores for the year. Foy also posted three caused turnovers, two ground balls, and two draw controls. Kelly Vrana (West Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) collected three ground balls while freshman Meaghan Doak (Pylesville, Md./Harford Tech) two ground balls and two draw controls. Senior net minder Anne Feustle (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) takes the loss as she made nine saves in 60 minutes.
      The Spartans will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, March 14, as the Green and White host Wooster. The non-conference tilt begins at noon.

BOX SCORE

Megan Foy photo courtesy of Scott Guise