GRANTHAM, Pa. (May 4, 2016) – The Widener University men's lacrosse team was dealt a heartbreaking 5-4 loss by Messiah in the semifinal round of the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Tournament on Wednesday evening at the Starry Athletic Complex.
 
In the second half, the teams nearly played a scoreless third frame with the defenses taking over on both ends of the field. But after a Widener timeout with 19.1 seconds remaining, senior Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) came through with an unassisted highlight reel goal to give the Pride their first lead of the game with just over five seconds on the clock.
 
The Pride's momentum continued into the fourth and final frame with the defense being anchored by senior Matt Drake (Morristown, N.J.) and sophomore John Ferguson (Springfield, Pa.) continuing to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard since the early stages of the second quarter. But after being held scoreless for more than 35 minutes, the Falcons scored two straight goals in 61 seconds to regain the lead at 5-4 with exactly three minutes left. Blake Knobloch unleashed a shot to the back of the net on a man-up opportunity to tie the game before Justin Bradley connected shortly afterwards to put the hosts ahead.
 
Widener (7-8) had several chances to tie the match beginning when sophomore Anthony Paone (Warrington, Pa.) won the next ensuing faceoff. After two Pride shots were off target, a key defensive stop and caused turnover by Ferguson against Luke Hall gave the Pride the ball with under one minute remaining.
 
Following a timeout, Widener had two more looks and was able to get the ball in the hands of top scorer Tim Taylor in front of the net to potentially send it to overtime. But as time was expiring, the senior lost control of the ball to allow the Falcons to survive and advance.
 
The match between the league's top two defenses in conference play lived up to its billing at the start, as both teams struggled finding the back of the net out of the gates. Messiah, however, broke the scoreless deadlock when Hall found Blake Knobloch for a marker on a man-up opportunity with 6:55 on the clock. The Falcons then took advantage of a Pride turnover and doubled their lead when Chris Bry slipped the ball past Widener goalkeeper Matt Horton (Emmaus, Pa.) in the waning seconds of the opening frame.
 
Widener came out stronger in the second quarter and outscored the hosts by a 3-1 count over the 15-minute span. The Pride got on the board when junior Tyler Schulte (Southampton, N.J.) finished a Tim Taylor pass from behind the net with 11:51 on the clock, and the junior added another marker with just over a minute remaining to make it 3-3 heading into the break to eventually set up the thrilling finish.
 
Tim Taylor finished with three points on two goals and one assist and Schulte added two goals to lead the Pride offense. Horton turned away seven shots between the pipes, while Paone won 10 of his 13 faceoff attempts.
 
In addition to getting the game-winning marker from Bradley, Messiah (11-6) was led by Chuck Rogers and Knoblach. Rogers caused six turnovers on defense and Knoblach netted two goals. Goalkeeper Sam Stengel made 10 saves to help the Falcons advance to Saturday's championship game against Stevenson.
 
Widener, which was making its fifth postseason appearance in as many seasons under the direction of MAC Commonwealth Coach of the Year Brendan Dawson, graduates 12 seniors and will return more than 30 letterwinners next season.