Grantham, PA — In hindsight, Messiah's first goal against Arcadia University in one of Wednesday's MAC Commonwealth Semi-Final match-ups was fitting.
Just 2:09 into play, senior Rachel Horning backed up on the far sideline, ran toward the field of play and — using the ball to stabilize herself — flipped the throw-in from about 15 yards off the end line.
The ball sailed toward the Arcadia goal, took one big hop and … slipped through the hands of Knights' goalkeeper Jennie Groves.
It was a flat-out gift for the second-ranked Falcons, as the Arcadia own-goal gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the cheapest of fashions. It was also a descriptive sign of the type of soccer to ensue — at least from the vantage point of Messiah head coach Scott Frey — as the Falcons trudged to a 4-0 win in advancing to Saturday's MAC Commonwealth Championship contest.
“It's always nice to get a win once you get to this point in the season, but I thought our speed and pace of play was not very good, especially early,” Frey said. “We were very fortunate to be up at halftime, and it was a game where we never really got into the rhythm that we practice.”
Serving as a bookend to a 5-0 win at Arcadia (9-8-2) last Monday, Wednesday night's match seemed almost a formality for second-ranked Messiah (18-0-2), especially following Horning's throw-in-turned-score. Fifteen total first-half shots yielded the Falcons' first traditional score four minutes before halftime, as junior Amy Horst served a low cross into the goal mouth at the 41:16 mark. That ball was stopped by Groves but caromed a few feet away from her body, allowing freshman Rachel Loya to slide kick the rebound into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
A shaken and stirred starting lineup graced the field for Messiah at the start of the second period, and those changes proved fruitful only 48 seconds into play: Sophomore Erin Hench received a feed from classmate Jennifer Fessler steps outside the Knights' 18-yard box, took two touches and ripped a blast into the far-post upper 90, giving her team a 3-0 advantage at the 45:48 moment.
“I thought Erin's goal was a great one from Fess, which was our first quality goal of the night,” Frey said. “We talked about turning (on the ball) at halftime, and Erin did a great job of that on that goal.”
While Messiah dominated possession throughout the game — the team finished with a 33-1 advantage in total shots and a 10-0 discrepancy in corner kicks — Arcadia made some impressive runs into the Falcons' half on occasion. The Knights' Sam Calhoun recorded the team's only shot early in the period, while a late counter attack was snubbed by a speedy recovery from sophomore Katie Hoffsmith — an instance that could have otherwise provided Arcadia with its second true opportunity.
It was not to be, however, as the Falcons would finish off their 11th straight win in anticlimactic fashion. Freshman Kelsey Gorman finalized the scoring with less than a minute to play, heading in a corner-kick effort from Horst into the upper 90 at the 89:02 clip.
Saturday's MAC Commonwealth Championship should provide a few more raised heart rates, as third-seed Elizabethtown College dealt second-seed Widener University a 3-2 defeat Wednesday on the Pride's home pitch. E'Town will now visit Shoemaker Field for the league title game Saturday, with kick-off set for 5 p.m. Cost of admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. Children under six years old are admitted free. Messiah will be offering these tickets as part of a double-header: Admission to the Falcons' women's soccer game will also allow entrance to the men's league championship game, set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
