Mike Messenger made the most of his senior season of field lacrosse at Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The midfielder from Surrey helped lead the Limestone Saints to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division Two championship game, picking up the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s (USILA) Most Outstanding Player Award and earning a place on the All-American Team along the way.
Limestone fell to Le Moyne College of Syracuse, New York 8-4 in the national championship game May 29 in Philadelphia. Messenger, 22, scored one goal and assisted on another.
The loss prevented the Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary graduate from winning three consecutive NCAA championships. Limestone won the Division Two title in 2014 and 2015.
Messenger began his collegiate career in Division One with the High Point Panthers in North Carolina, but transferred to Limestone after one season and made an immediate impact with the Saints.
NCAA semifinalists in 2013, the Saints became champions in 2014, the year Messenger joined the team. The midfielder started just two games, but appeared in all 20 for Limestone, scoring 42 goals and tallying 65 points to earn a USILA First-Team All-American selection.
A year later, Messenger led the NCAA with 55 goals in 21 games played, earning another All-American selection. He scored three fourth-quarter goals in a 9-6 win over Le Moyne in the championship game, earning the contest’s Most Outstanding Player Award.
With 59 goals this past season, he now ranks fourth all-time at Limestone with 156 goals.
Messenger, a six-foot-two defender in the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League with the Coquitlam Adanacs for the past four seasons, was drafted by the New Westminster Salmonbellies of the Western Lacrosse Association in February. In two games with the ‘Bellies this season, he has scored once.
