Grantham, PA — The drama surrounding Wednesday afternoon's MAC Commonwealth match-up with 13th-ranked Elizabethtown College heightened considerably at 12:24 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
It was then that the latest STX/NFHCA Top 25 Poll was released, a rating that had Messiah ranked fourth following a week at the number three slot.
That was a baffling drop for the Falcons, considering their body of work as the nation's third-ranked team: Messiah dispatched then 15th-ranked Gettysburg College by a 3-1 score Wednesday, only to follow with a 14-0 drubbing of Arcadia University Saturday during Homecoming Weekend.
In some realm of logic, those results weren't good enough to keep the Falcons put in the national rankings. Head coach Jan Trapp said her team noticed.
“I would say it was very surprising,” Trapp said. “That may have given the girls a little extra incentive heading into tonight's game.”
Thank you, STX/NFHCA Top 25 Poll. The newly-appointed fourth-ranked Messiah field hockey team came out on all cylinders against rival E'Town, out-shooting the Blue Jays by a 26-4 differene en route to a 3-1 win, the team's ninth straight victory and sixth against a team ranked in the aforementioned poll's top 15.
Not that those rankings are an exact science.
“Anyone that coaches NCAA Division III field hockey can vote in that poll, so you have to remember that,” Trapp said. “In the end, it doesn't really mean anything. What matters is how we play, and I was very pleased with how we came out and performed today. I felt that the girls played the full 70 minutes. I thought it was one of our best games of the year.”
Both teams opened with an extremely high-paced start, as Messiah (11-1, 4-0) slowly began to control the area of possession. A pair of shots sailed just inches wide of frame in the game's first 12 minutes, but the Falcons were able to break through at the 21:48 mark following a nifty slip pass from junior Jenna Max to classmate Katie Love. Love then flipped a close-range shot into the back netting, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.
Things would stay the same throughout the remainder of the first period, as just four of Messiah's 13 first-half shots were placed between the pipes.
“Elizabethtown is a very good team, and (Elizabethtown goalkeeper Liz Hannegan) is a very good goalie,” Trapp said. “We needed to move her around, but we kept going too wide on either side. You have to make the goalie work. If you're always saying, 'wide, wide, wide' you don't have them thinking, 'I saved that one, but will I get the next one.' I thought we did a better job of putting our shots on goal in the second half.”
Trapp's club secured the game winner just three and a half minutes into play, as sophomore Julie Barton won a ball at midfield and began dribbling down the right side. Barton then flicked a diagonal ball across the field of play, eventually finding freshman Kourtney Ehly on the far post for an easy put away at the 43:30 mark.
“That was a situation where we effectively moved the keeper and got a great look,” Trapp said. “(Twenty-six shots) is a lot of shots on a good team like Elizabethtown. We kept saying, 'Don't give them hope, don't give them hope.”
Elizabethtown (14-3, 2-2) did get a glimmer of opportunity just nine minutes following Ehly's score, cutting Messiah's lead in half at the 52:23 mark. The Blue Jays' Liz DeMatteis fired a shot that was deflected by junior goalkeeper Ashley Mowery, only for the ball to return to DeMatteis' stick. The forward then got her second effort past the outstretched leg of Mowery to the far post, trimming the difference to just one goal.
That was about the only chance Elizabethtown would have, however, as Ehly knocked in her second goal of the afternoon with under two minutes to play in providing the final outcome. A mad scramble in front of E'Town's cage ended with the ball popping up, and Ehly was able to redirect the ball into the back of the net for her eighth collegiate goal.
“Any time teams come out at the pace that these teams did to start the game, you know there's going to be a lull at some point,” Trapp said. “I didn't think our lull was ever big enough to hurt us or make things too dangerous. We were very solid throughout, even if the pace of play wasn't quite as intense late in the game as it was early.”
The win kept Messiah alone atop the MAC Commonwealth standings, though the team faces perhaps its toughest test of the season in a non-league event Saturday: Top-ranked The College of New Jersey will visit Anderson Field at 1 p.m.
“Messiah and TCNJ have always, always been great games,” Trapp said. “I think our kids are anxious to play. It should be a fun one.”
