Grantham, PA — A season-high 54 shots equated to a season-high 14 goals for third-ranked Messiah Saturday afternoon, as the Falcons dealt visiting MAC Commonwealth foe Arcadia University a 14-0 conference loss.
The win was Messiah's eighth straight, while the offensive explosion was the program's greatest output since a 16-0 win over Albright on Oct. 16, 2004.
“Games like this are tough,” said Jan Trapp, Messiah head coach. “We were very good up front today, and that made things difficult for Arcadia.”
The onslaught did not take long to commence, as senior Nikki Bailey scored at the 5:50 and 5:57 marks to put Messiah (10-1, 3-0) up 2-0. Bailey's first tally came off an assist from sophomore Julie Barton while her second was a solo rocket from the top of the circle.
Sophomore Lauren Voigt began another scoring burst at the 10:55 tick, taking a feed from junior Emily Sauder on the right side and flipping a shot past Arcadia keeper Brittany Rasmussen. Sophomore Lauren Tennis then took a pass from junior Jenna Max to the back of the cage with 11:51 elapsed, while Barton scored at 12:11 and 15:48 — the latter off an assist from sophomore Jess Zimmerman — to make the score 6-0 less than midway through the first half.
Trapp's club would tack on an incredible six more scores before the halftime whistle, as junior Katrina Campbell (18:02), Tennis (23:28), sophomore Kourtney Ehly (24:46), Voigt (27:26) and junior Elizabeth Ziegler (30:59 and 32:27) all notched markers.
It was at that point that Trapp completely inverted her lineup, moving forwards back to defense and bringing back line players to the top.
If anything was gleaned from this win, according to Trapp, it was a mutual respect of Falcons' players for that of their teammates.
“I think both our back line and forwards came away from today with a better appreciation of each position,” Trapp said. “The forwards learned what it's like when they don't come back and help out on defense, and our backs fully realized just how much running our forwards do.”
Even with the discombobulated second-half lineup, Messiah still put pressure on Arcadia (4-12, 0-2). Freshman defender Nikki Carroll scored her first collegiate goals at the 53:00 and 61:37 marks, the first coming unassisted and the second off a helper from Campbell.
In addition to recording its most shots and scores of the season, the Falcons dished out a season-best nine assists while equaling team highs in shots on goal (39) and penalty corners (24).
Messiah will face perhaps its biggest week to date over the next seven days, as 13th-ranked Elizabethtown College visits Anderson Field Wednesday afternoon followed by top-ranked The College of New Jersey Saturday. Game time against E'Town is set for 4 p.m.
