(box score)

Senior goaltender Mac Nestler (Chatham, NJ) made 10 saves to lead Widener past Messiah, 7-3, on Wednesday night in Grantham, PA.

Widener (6-4, 4-0 CC) won its third game in a row to remain tied for first place in the Commonwealth Conference with four regular season games left.

On defense, the Pride held the Falcons to three goals on 34 shots. Nestler brings his season total to 90 saves and fellow senior Andrew Vogel (Broomall, PA) led the team with three ground balls and two caused turnovers

Offensively, junior Kyle Blakemore (Ridley Park, PA) scored the lone goal of the first quarter to give the Pride the early lead.

Minutes into the second quarter, Widener took the 2-0 lead when sophomore Marc LaVine (Nashua, NH) found freshman Tyler Schulte (Southhampton, NJ) in front of the net for Schulte's six goal of the year.

Messiah scored the next two goals to even the game with time ticking down in the first half.

Ten seconds before the halftime horn, sophomore Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, PA) scored from the left side on a pass from freshman Nick Striebich (Ellicott City, MD) to regain the lead for the Pride. Taylor and LaVine are tied for the team lead with 22 points in the season.

Widener dominated the third quarter with three straight goals within a matter of only three minutes. Taylor scored his second of the day to begin the run for the Pride on an unassisted shot from the left side. Less than a minute later, Striebich scored off a pass from senior Robert Clemens (Aston, PA), and Clemens then returned to add a goal of his own with five minutes remaining in the quarter.

Messiah's Will Franken scored his second goal of the day to begin the final quarter, but the squad could not capitalize on that momentum as Widener sophomore Kyle Gratz (Worthington, OH) then scored an unassisted goal (seventh of the season) to secure the conference victory.

Widener returns to Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium on Saturday against Lycoming at 1:00 pm.