OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Stevenson men's lacrosse junior Stephen Banick totaled two goals and two assists while junior Connor Skeen made a career-high 10 saves en route to MVP honors as the Mustangs won their third-straight Commonwealth Conference championship, 8-4 over Messiah Saturday night at Mustang Stadium.

With the win, Stevenson (15-4) will make its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. It also marked the team's fourth conference championship in the last six years.

Stevenson, who scored the game's first seven goals, got off to a slow start, needing 10:31 to find the back of the net before Banick scored a man-up off a feed from senior Tony Rossi.

Holding just a one-goal lead, Stevenson held a slim 12-10 edge in shots with 7:35 remaining in the second quarter, but managed to keep the Falcons scoreless thanks to five saves from Skeen.

Banick finally scored again at 6:50 of the second to snap a 12:39 scoreless streak before junior Pat Candon scored back-to-back tallies just 38 seconds apart to give the Mustangs a 4-0 halftime lead.

Banick's second goal came off an assist from junior Matt Tompkins who caused a turnover on Falcon goalie Sam Stengel who was out of the crease before finding Banick all alone in front of the empty net.

The trio of Banick, Candon and sophomore Kyle D'Onofrio combined for six of the team's first seven goals as D'Onofrio netted back-to-back third-quarter markers to increase the Stevenson lead to 7-0 after three.

Messiah (12-5) threatened in the fourth, scoring four of the game's five goals, but thanks to four saves from Skeen and a highlight-reel, behind-the-back snipe from senior Colin Dabney, the Falcons couldn't only get within four.

Senior Justin Buonomo also won all six faceoffs in the final quarter for the Mustangs, finishing the game 12-for-12. As a team, Stevenson won 13-of-16 faceoffs, including 8-of-10 in the second half.

Skeen highlighted a defensive effort that forced 22 turnovers, causing 13. In two conference tournament contests, he registered a career-high in saves, totaling seven against Widener and 10 this evening.

In two games against Messiah this season, Stevenson allowed just five goals over eight quarters while limiting the Falcons to just 1-for-8 on man-up opportunities, forcing 48 turnovers and holding them to 38-of-52 on clears.

On Saturday, the starting close defense of seniors Callum Robinson and Taylor Morgan as well as junior Chad Williams totaled nine ground balls and five caused turnovers.

The selection show for the 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship will be on Sunday at 9:00 p.m., live on NCAA.com.