By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Chester, PA — Saturday night's contest at Widener University's Leslie Quick Jr. Stadium started with teams that had each won 10 games on the season, with both looking to keep Commonwealth Conference records unblemished.
The Falcons — ranked atop both the latest NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 and
D3soccer.com Top 25 Polls — had a bit more on the table, however, as Messiah was looking to keep a 38-game undefeated streak alive.
Mission accomplished.
An early surge of back-to-back goals helped Messiah (12-0-1, 2-0) cruise past Widener (10-2-2, 1-1) by a 3-0 score, as yet another dominant possession game helped to the team's ninth shut out of the year.
The first five minutes of the half would start with the Pride (10-2-2) controlling possession, however, stringing passes in hope to find a way to get through the back line. Messiah head coach
Scott Frey said he was impressed with the play of his back row.
“The back line (sophomore
Kelsey Gorman, junior
Molly Bletz, junior
Katie Hoffsmith, and senior
Carey Cortese) played really big for us tonight,” he said. “Once they stopped the initial attack, our top six took over.”
Did they ever.
The ensuing 40 minutes would prove to be one-sided as the Falcons were uber-efficient, connecting eight of 10 first-half shots on goal and finishing passes for a pair of goals.
Senior
Amanda Naeher netted her team-leading 13th goal of the year to open the scoring, a beneficiary of steady play by the midfield and wingers. Naeher's goal came just before the 17 minute mark off a corner kick, as Hoffsmith played the corner short to junior Joanna Haqq. Haqq then passed in a brilliantly curved through-ball to a streaking Naeher who beat the keeper for the goal.
Just 95 seconds later, junior
Erin Hench received a ball from Gorman and kept the ball at her feet. Carrying the ball through the middle of the field, Hench ripped a laser of a shot from 25 yards out, low and to the left side of the net. The goal would be her 10th and Gorman's first assist of the year, putting Messiah up by a 2-0 score in the span of a minute and a half.
“Scoring the first goal was big for us, as it is always difficult to find space against (Widener),” Frey said. “The second was huge.”
Freshman
Stephanie Andrews would keep the pressure up in the second half. Fighting and hustling for the ball with speed and determination, Andrews, from the right side, found freshman Corrine Wulf 14 yards out. Wulf, whose back was to the goal, turned to the right and finished with a strong, left footed shot for her fourth goal of the year, giving Andrews her first assist of the season.
Although the Falcons finished with a season-low 12 shots for the game, nine of them were on target.
“Tonight, everyone did a great job,” Frey said. “When we attacked, we attacked with urgency and purposed. When we passed, we passed with patience and accuracy. They didn't give us a lot of space to turn and run, so we had to be efficient in what we were given.”
The Pride were held to 0 shots and 0 corners while six saves were spread out between their two keepers. Sophomore goalie Autumn Reiley was credited with her sixht shut out of the season on the Messiah side, the team's ninth.
With the win, the Falcons extended their undefeated streak to 39 games overall and their conference winning streak to 17.
Messiah will look to keep both steaks alive as they next host league foe Lebanon Valley College Wednesday night at Shoemaker Field. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
