The University of Mary Washington women's lacrosse team dropped a 9-7 decision to 15th ranked Messiah University on Saturday afternoon at the Battleground. The Eagles slip to 4-4 on the season.

The game started with an offensive rush, as the teams combined for seven goals in the opening 15 minutes. Messiah built a 2-0 lead, but the Eagles knotted the score on goals from Erin Steinberg at 9:21 and Caeley Terapane at 8:59, both coming on Kayla Sarazin assists. After the Falcons regained the lead, Katie Blair knotted the score with a man-down goal at 4:31. Messiah added one of their own during the man-up time, and held a 4-3 advantage after one quarter.

In the second, Messiah added a pair of scores, but Blair swung the momentum back for the Eagles with a tally with 2:21 left before halftime on a Stenberg assist.

Blair opened the third with an unassisted score at 13:12 to draw UMW to within 6-5, but Messiah answered with three straight goals to close the period. The Eagles used late fourth quarter goals from Steinberg at 4:13 on a Blair assist and another from Clare Madden on a free position shot with 3:21 to go. UMW forced a pair of late turnivers, but were unable to draw closer before the final horn.

Blair had three goals and an assist, and Steinberg had two goals and two assists to lead the Eagles. 

Both teams took 26 shots on the day, and Messiah held a 23-20 edge in ground balls. UMW goalkeeper Reilly Miller made 16 saves between the pipes, and Abbey Vorsteg added three ground balls and two caused turnovers.

The Eagles will be back in action on Wednesday when they visit Shenandoah University at 4:00 p.m.