WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The first time that Lycoming College's men's lacrosse team made the trip to Grantham, Pa., the team was 2-6, having just completed a non-conference slate that included games with six teams that reached the postseason, and it walked out of Messiah College with a 12-8 loss.
 
Since that game, the Warriors' season has turned on a dime. With wins in six of the last seven games, Lycoming rose from last in the conference standings after that game with Messiah to a tie for second with the Falcons by the time the final buzzer sounded on a 21-13 win over Hood on Saturday.
 
Now the Warriors, seeded third, will head down Route 15 for the second time this season, with 44 goals in the past two games surging on its back, to meet second-seeded Messiah in the MAC Commonwealth Championship semifinal on Wednesday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at the Messiah Lacrosse Field with the winner headed to Saturday's championship game.
 
No. 1 Stevenson will take on the winner of tonight's game between No. 4 Widener and No. 5 Arcadia in the other semifinal on Wednesday, with the winners of the games meeting at the venue of the higher seed on Saturday, May 4.
 
Since it is a MAC championship, admission will be charged at all of the tournament's games and tickets will only be available at the gate the day of the game. Adults are $5, seniors $4, students $2 and children under six are free. Conference championship T-shirts will be available at the each venue for $15.
 
It was the game after the Warriors fell to Messiah by four goals that the season took an unexpected turn. Down 8-4 with less than half a quarter left to play against Widener, a team that has been a thorn in its side for all of its 22 years, freshman Owen Zimmerman (Stevens, Pa./Cocalico), who had just one goal in his first nine games, put the team on his back and scored four goals during a 5-0 run, with the last ball denting the twine with 1:09 left.
 
The good times kept rolling, as Lycoming enters the tournament having won four straight games, the second-longest current winning streak in the conference. The Warriors handled Lebanon Valley, 9-6, beat Arcadia, 12-11, in overtime, and handled Alvernia (23-6) and Hood (21-13) last week.
 
Zimmerman has scored 17 goals in the past seven games to pace the team in its hot stretch, but he is one of eight Warriors that have at least 10 points, giving the team one of its most balanced offenses ever. In fact, the last time the team had six 20-point scorers was 2011, when the team finished second in the 12-team Middle Atlantic Conference.
 
The first attack unit of senior Andrew Ream (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) (29 goals, 22 points), junior Drew Collins (23 points, 16 assists) and sophomore Dominick Massaro (Centereach, N.Y./Sachem North) (27 goals, 11 assists) are on the verge of making it the second year in a row that Lycoming has had three 40-point scorers.
 
More impressively, the Warrior midfield has stepped into a larger role in offensive production, with both junior Shain Quigley (Lincoln University, Pa./Oxford Area) (18 goals, seven assists) and senior Travis Rode (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) (16 goals, nine assists) posting 25 points in the regular season. Freshmen Max Hanson (Prattville, Ala./Bishop Machebeuf (Colo.)) (11 goals, five assists) and Blake Premo (Massena, N.Y./Massena) (four goals, eight assists) have also chipped in more than 10 points.
 
Defensively, the Warriors are led by senior goalkeeper Michael Tenant (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall), who has set the school's career saves record and is just six away from the single-season record of 230. The explosive, athletic and smart keeper averaged 14.00 saves per game, the most for a keeper with a winning record in the conference, and his .588 save percentage was third in the league.
 
While Tenant has served as the reliable last defense, the team's glut of experienced longsticks have turned it into a unit that finished second in league play by allowing an average of 9.5 goals per game. Seniors Eric Schutta (Frenchtown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) and Cole Masterson (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) lead the group with 17 caused turnovers a piece, as Schutta has picked up 40 groundballs and Masterson has added 38.
 
Senior Austin Arroyo (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) has been a welcome accomplice, both on the defensive end as a longstick midfielder and on the wings during faceoffs, as he has posted 45 groundballs and caused 16 turnovers.
 
Fellow seniors Collin Bitsko (Farmingdale, N.J./Freehold Township) and Ryan Fetzer (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) have each begun to contribute after coming back from injuries, adding depth to go with freshman Ian Chapman (Hampstead, Md./Manchester Valley) and junior Sam Pollock (Wrightsville, Pa./Eastern York).
 
The team also has heads into the postseason with freshman faceoff specialist Justin Joseph (Exeter, Pa./Wyoming Area) winning at a 60 percent clip, with Rode, Arroyo, senior Alex Artur (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson), senior Matt Carpenter (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) and sophomore Jake Davis (Honeoye, N.Y./Honeoye) all playing well on the wings, as Lycoming has won 56 percent of its faceoffs, its highest percentage in eight years.
 
The Falcons finished 9-7 in the regular season with a 6-2 mark in the MAC Commonwealth, earning the No. 2 seed over the Warriors by virtue of the head-to-head win. They are led by one of the most dynamic attacks in the MAC Commonwealth, with five players having scored more than 30 goals. Joseph Franken is one of three Falcons with more than 60 points, leading the team with 46 goals and 68 points, while Liam Lilianthal leads the way with 33 assists. Lucas Honebrink is winning 62 percent of his faceoffs and Quentin Johnson leads the team with 27 caused turnovers.
 
In the first meeting between the two teams, Messiah jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and added another run of five straight goals to start the second half to take control in the 12-8 win. Tenant finished with 17 saves and Ream posted three goals and two assists to lead the Warriors.
 
The Warriors are 2-1 against Messiah in the postseason, last beating the Falcons, 8-7, in a first-round MAC Commonwealth game in 2014. The Warriors also downed the Falcons, 13-7, in the Middle Atlantic Conference semifinals in 2002 to avenge an 18-10 loss to them in the 2001 MAC Championship game. Messiah leads the all-time series with the Warriors, 14-12, and has won the last five meetings, dating back to the Warriors' conference tournament win five years ago.