After a scoreless first half, the thirteenth ranked University of Mary Washington field hockey team dropped a 3-1 decision at #20 Messiah College on Wednesday night in Pennsylvania to fall to 6-3 on the season.

After neither team could muster a score in the first half, Messiah wasted little time in the second half getting on the scoreboard. Moriah Pfautz scored 4:03 into the second half for the game's first tally.

The Falcons upped their advantage to 2-0 with a penalty stroke at 50:01 by Carissa Gehrman, and ran the score to 3-0 on a score from Kezia Loht with 6:48 left. The Eagles scored with a Kathleen Namey goal on a penalty corner from Haley Kane with 3:48 remaining, and had a chance later to cut the deficit more, but missed a penalty stroke in the final minutes.

Messiah led in shots, 16-10, and in penalty corners, 9-5. Freshman goalie Jessica Cavolt had two saves for the Eagles.

Mary Washington will return to action on Saturday when they visit York College at 12:30 p.m. in their Capital Athletic Conference opener.