GRANTHAM, Pa. – It took Division III's top-ranked team to stop the magical ride for the Lycoming College men's soccer team, as top-ranked Messiah College used three first-half goals to post a 4-0 win in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament championship game at Shoemaker Field on Saturday night, Nov. 8.
 
The Warriors (15-3-3 overall) will now have to wait to see if it can earn the first at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament in school history, as it sits seventh in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region poll and fourth in the NSCAA regional rankings. The tournament selection show will be on NCAA.com on Monday, Nov. 10, at 1:30 p.m.
 
If the season does not continue, the Warriors finished the year with a school-record 13 shutouts and the team's .786 winning percentage is also the highest in school history, bettering the mark of .762 set by the 1994 team (16-5). The team's 0.64 goals-against average also smashed the school record of 0.80 set in 2003.
 
In addition, senior goalkeeper Connor Keenan (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) holds school single-season records for shutouts (11) and goals-against average (0.69). His 14 wins are tied for third in school history and his .831 save percentage is eighth.
 
The loss ended a 2-0-2 stretch for the Warriors in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament, which helped the team claim the 2013 conference title and reach the title game for a second straight year, but Messiah (19-0-1 overall), which lost to Lycoming in penalty kicks in the conference semifinals in 2013, was able to quickly and efficiently take the Warriors out of the game with three goals in the first 20 minutes.
 
The Falcons got on the board in the 10^th minute, as Jack Thompson, who missed the final penalty kick against the Warriors in the conference semifinals in 2013, found the right corner. Jacob Bender added another score in the 13^th minute and tournament MVP Bryant Myer scored in the 20^th.
 
In the second half, Jeremy Payne, the other Falcon to miss a penalty kick in the shootout in 2013, scored on a header in the 58^th minute.
 
Myer led the Falcon offense with a goal and an assist. Brandon West and Aaron Hennigan combined for the shutout for the Falcons, as they faced two shots. Keenan made two stops on 17 Falcon shots before yielding to sophomore Josh Gildea (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) for the final 100 seconds.