Grantham, PA — Take away the first and last five-minute stretches of Saturday's match-up between second-ranked Salisbury University and sixth-ranked Messiah College, and you had a solid field hockey game between top-tier programs at Anderson Field.
Throw those 10 minutes back into the mix, and you had an instant classic.
Messiah (3-1) responded after allowing two goals in the first five minutes of Saturday's game to claim a 3-2 win over the visiting Sea Gulls, tacking on the game-winner with just over five minutes to play in regulation. That score was followed by some gut-wrenching moments in front of the Falcons' goal, as Salisbury (5-2) tried desperately — and valiantly — to secure the equalizer.
Some solid play from Messiah's back line thwarted those efforts, however, putting head coach Jan Trapp back in the winner's seat after a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to ninth-ranked Rowan University last weekend. In that contest, Messiah dominated the second-half statistics, but couldn't find the back of the cage to make it worthwhile.
Two second-half scores against Salisbury successfully completed the squad's latest comeback attempt.
“You know, we really didn't start playing until we were down against Rowan, and it was like that for us in a lot of ways today,” an exasperated Trapp said following Saturday's frenetic finish. “We slowly got better today, slowly got into the game. We cannot continue to come out so slowly. We must be better from the start of these games.”
With both Messiah and Salisbury entering Saturday's Herculean match-up coming off rare losses — the Sea Gulls dropped a last-second, 1-0 loss to 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins University Wednesday — it appeared the visitors more eager for redemption early. Salisbury's Lauren Correll scored just 1:09 into play and again at the 4:57 mark, putting a serious damper on Messiah's plan of attack.
“Lauren Correll is an amazing player,” Trapp said. “We scouted Salisbury, and we highlighted the fact that she liked to go down the baseline (offensively). So what happens in the first five minutes? We give up two scores on the baseline (to Correll). It was not the start we had hoped for.”
Despite the early hits from Salisbury, Messiah gradually began to possess more of the ball while making better runs toward the Sea Gulls' cage. Those efforts were rewarded at the 22:21 mark when sophomore Julie Barton smashed a shot past Salisbury keeper Claire Davey-Karlson from the top of the circle.
While Salisbury possessed a 2-1 halftime advantage and the better side of most statistical categories (10 shots to Messiah's six and six corners to the Falcons' two), Trapp said she liked the way momentum was beginning to play out.
“We can't let ourselves get down against good teams like this, but at least today it took us a shorter amount of time to start playing well,” Trapp joked. “Against Rowan, we didn't play as we were capable until the second half. I thought today we really began to pick it up after Rowan's second goal.”
Trapp's team tied the game just 11 minutes into the second half, as sophomore Lauren Tennis ripped a shot from the middle sweet at the 46:11 mark. As the Falcons' began to control the second half of play — Messiah out-shot Salisbury by a 6-3 difference in the final stanza while notching five penalty corners to the Sea Gulls' four — the capitalizing moment came at the 64:57 mark off the stick of junior Elizabeth Ziegler.
Perched atop the circle on a penalty corner, Ziegler took a pass from Tennis and ripped the game-winner, converting what Trapp called “perfect execution” of the scoring opportunity.
“Over the last several years, we've taken some pride in being dangerous in our corners,” she said. “You obviously can't score off of every one, but that one was executed perfectly. Just perfectly.”
Now grasping to its one-goal advantage, Trapp's defense would have to step up, a successful feat due largely to the play of junior goalkeeper Ashley Mowery. Mowery finished a full day in cage with 10 saves, including a pair of denials with just 1:15 to play during an absolute fracas in front of Messiah's frame. As Salisbury was awarded its final penalty corner, the Falcons had trouble clearing the ball, forcing Mowery to get on the ground to make a pair of body saves amidst a crowd of swinging sticks.
It was a series that lasted no more than 10 seconds, but felt like an eternity to those standing on the Falcons' sideline, including Trapp.
“People come up to me and say, 'Your goalie, your goalie,'” Trapp said of Mowery's stellar play. “She's just been really, really good. Our subs stepped up today, and everyone got into that, 'Let's play team ball.' I think this gave the kids confidence. Hopefully it helped them realize when we do things right and do things together, we can beat anybody.”
Correll finished with five shots on goal to lead Salisbury's efforts, while Ziegler paced Messiah with five. The loss gave Salisbury back-to-back defeats for the first time since the 2006 season. The Sea Gulls remain as the only NCAA Division III program to win three straight national championships, coming in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
“This is the team that was together and played last spring that we were so excited about,” Trapp said of her club. “I was pleased with how everybody stepped up and played better. You had to work hard for this one, and we did. We're getting used to some players playing new positions, and we're really starting to get it together.”
Messiah will not have long to savor its big win, as the team will host King's College Tuesday afternoon at Anderson Field. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
