By Travis Galaska, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA – For a collegiate soccer program, there's usually a few weeks every year that can make or break an entire season.
The Messiah men's soccer team, ranked #4/#3 in the latest NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 and D3soccer.com Top 25 Polls, respectively, faced one such week at the start of Tuesday night's matchup with perennial conference foe Lebanon Valley College, the first of a back-to-back-to-back week featuring three games in five nights.
The team in white made sure to start it all off on the right foot, showing an ability for the quick strike and playing solid team defense the entire evening en route to a 5-0 victory over the Flying Dutchmen at Shoemaker Field.
Tonight's matchup also served another purpose, as the Falcons were able to get back on track against LVC (6-5-2, 1-2), a team which forced Messiah (11-1, 2-0) to extra time the last time they were at Shoemaker and which notched their first victory ever against Messiah last year on their home turf.
“There's no question about it, (last year's game) was definitely good motivation for us,” said Messiah head coach Brad McCarty. “It's good to get back on the right foot against them.”
And play motivated soccer the Falcons did, nearly matching season highs with five goals on 29 total shots.
Messiah dominated possession from the earliest points of the game, and nearly got off to a very quick start just three minutes after the opening whistle. After sophomore Kent Ramirez's cross from the left side bounced all the way through to the other side of the penalty box, it was picked up by fellow sophomore Derek Black. Black took control and dribbled by the nearest defender, gaining a brief but clear shot on goal from a narrow angle. Black pounded a rising shot from 10 yards out on the right side, but the ball just barely missed going in at the near upper 90.
Fifteen minutes later, Black would come even closer to putting a ball into the netting for the Falcons. Junior Geoff Pezon made a great read on a Dutchmen pass from a midfielder and stepped in front of it, catching their defense off guard and quickly moving up the field. Pezon sent a beautiful through pass right onto the foot of a sprinting Black racing toward the middle from the right sideline. Black took the pass in stride and blew through the defense, heading for the right side of the penalty box. After making it just inside the Dutchmen box, Black ripped a shot on the frame, but on onrushing senior LVC keeper Andrew Raudensky had timed his move off the line perfectly, and Black's shot struck him right in the middle of his sliding body. Somehow, however, the ball squeezed between his chest and the ground, and its momentum caused it to bound on toward the goal cage. Black sprinted around the now prone Raudensky and toward the ball to clean up the rebound, but before he could reach it, a Dutchmen defender swooped in from the left and cleared it far out of danger at the last second.
From the looks of the half at this point, it seemed that it was more a matter of when than if the Falcons would get on the scoreboard. In fact, just 10 minutes later, that would prove to be the case.
After a Messiah possession in the attacking third resulted in the ball ending up on the feet of a Dutchmen defender, it seemed that LVC would be able to push the ball up the field and start an attack. However, just as the defender made the pass up his left to the LVC winger, the winger turned his head to sprint up the field and make an attack into Messiah territory. This left the ball rolling all alone toward midfield, where Messiah senior Jevon Gondwe made a heads up play and stepped in front of the errant pass, carrying it down through the Dutchmen defense now at a full sprint. Gondwe made a run all the way into the LVC penalty box, but his shot was blocked away toward the right corner flag.
Gondwe once again out-hustled all other LVC defenders around and made it to the ball first. After gaining control of the ball, Gondwe took a dribble and sent in a beautiful cross from right near that right corner. The ball sailed high over the center of the goal box and dropped down on the far side, where it found the head of waiting junior Nick Thompson. Thompson struck with his trademark authority, sending a rocket header back across the cage and into the right side of the goal for a 1-0 Messiah lead midway through the first half.
As has been the norm this season, once the floodgates open, it's hard to stop the Messiah attack. Just four minutes later, Messiah was awarded a corner kick from the left side. Sophomore Tom Renko sent the ball in, curling a perfect cross right into the teeth of the Messiah attackers, where sophomore defender Jordan Sands, up to attack for the corner, was ready and waiting. Sands sent an absolute blast of a header right into the center of the net before Raudensky could even react, sending the Falcons out to an abrupt 2-0 lead and giving Sands his first career goal.
From that point on until midway through the second half, the Dutchmen seemed to find a way to settle down the potent Messiah attack. While the Dutchmen were able to keep the Falcons from getting any more quality scoring chances along the way, the stifling Messiah defense made it nearly impossible for LVC to get any good looks at any point in the game.
“They moved the ball well and they moved off the ball well,” McCarty said. “We were just able to keep them from getting any good looks tonight. Our entire team was committed to defending tonight, and that's critical for us.”
The second half seemed a virtual mirror of the first, with the Falcons nearly getting on the board again just minutes into the half. Freshman Josh Wood gained possession near midfield, and he sent a pass to the feet of Pezon. Pezon in turn sent a through pass to Nick Thompson, who split the Dutchmen defense and raced unimpeded toward the goal. As Thompson reached the penalty box, he deftly slowed his dribbling down to maintain possession and let Raudensky make the next move. The LVC keeper charged off his line to cut down Thompson's line, and Thompson waited until the last second to off-load the shot, but it was a split second too late, and Raudensky made the great one-on-one save — one of his nine on the night — to keep LVC in the game.
It may have taken a little longer in the second half, but Messiah again found a way to score and score quickly. Thirty minutes into the second half, sophomore Sam Woodworth took possession of the ball right near the center spot and made a few dribbles to carry the ball upfield. With his head up, Woodworth spotted an open Messiah freshman Dan Squire, running further up the center, and passed the ball off to him. Squire, in turn, played a through pass to the left side of the Dutchmen defense, where it was picked up by fellow freshman JP Fulton. Fulton took possession in stride and sprinted through two defenders and alone on goal, ripping a shot from just inside the top left of the penalty box.
Fulton's blast seemed headed right for Raudensky and another save. However, when the busy LVC net minder reached up to grab the ball, it simply bounced right over his fingertips. From there, it only took the momentum of Fulton's powerful shot to carry the ball on a few bounces and right into the center of the net to extend the Falcon lead to 3-0 and give Fulton a first career goal of his own.
With four minutes remaining in the final half, the Falcons would get back on the board again. Junior Keaton Kasiguran carried the ball down the left side of the field, getting past his defender and sending a cross into the LVC penalty box. The ball bounced around for a few moments before being knocked back down toward the end line on the left side. Kasiguran sprinted over and reached the ball, taking possession again. From this very shallow angle and in between the goal box and penalty box boundaries, Kasiguran sent a low cross toward the middle of the goal box. Raudensky slid to his left to smother the ball just off the goal line, but just before it reached him a sliding Fulton tipped the ball between the keeper and the near post for his second goal on the evening and making the total 4-0.
Messiah would close the scoring with just seventeen seconds remaining on the scoreboard. After being awarded another corner kick, this from the right side, the ball was sent in to a massive jumble of bodies right in the center of the LVC penalty box. After several blocked shot attempts by Messiah attackers and failed clearances by the Dutchmen defenders, the ball trickled a bit to the right side of the box, where sophomore Trevor Lee somehow found an opening through all the bodies and sent a shot trickling just over the goal line before a defender could clear the ball off the line, closing out the scorebooks with a final of 5-0.
“It's always important four our second group to do great out there,” said McCarty, after four of his team's five goals were put in by non-starters on the evening.
Messiah will get a day off before facing off against non-conference foe Roberts Wesleyan College Thursday evening. Game time is again set for 7 p.m. at Shoemaker Field.
