By Travis Galaska, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — If you were one of the many Messiah soccer fans who regularly attend the matches, but decided, quite literally, to take a rain check for Thursday's matchup against Roberts Wesleyan College, you missed one of the higher scoring, if not more challenging games of the season.
This was not solely due to the weather though, as the Raiders from RWC (5-7) put the Falcons through a tough first half before Messiah, ranked third in the latest NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 and fourth in the most recent D3soccer.com Top 25 Poll, came roaring back strong in the second to pull away to an eventual 6-2 victory.
“The weather didn't have too much of an impact,” Messiah head coach Brad McCarty said of the frigid, soaking evening. “It was definitely cold, but we played below average in that first half, giving up that goal and making some mistakes.”
From the beginning, it appeared as if Messiah (12-1) was going to dominate throughout the entire game. In the first eight minutes, the home team strung together two solid chances on goal, but both shots sailed just wide of the post. A minute after that, the Falcons were able to get an early lead, thanks to some hard work from junior Geoff Pezon.
With just over eight minutes elapsed in the game, Pezon carried the ball down the right side of the field. After slowing down for a split second to throw his defender off, Pezon then turned the speed back on, getting around his defender and turning left, into the Raiders' penalty box.
After getting deep inside the box, Pezon let a low rocket go from a shallow angle at 10 yards. RWC freshman keeper Eric Read made a quick reaction save, but the ball bounced off his body and past him, slowly toward the goal. Pezon, who had smartly followed his shot, raced around the prone Read and beat a final Raiders' defender to the ball, placing a shot into the back of the net for a quick 1-0 Falcons lead.
From that point out, however, the Raiders effectively shut down what had been a potent Messiah attack for most of this season. In fact, just three minutes later, RWC would net a goal of their own, leveling the match both in terms of score and momentum.
Raiders senior forward Dan Ames carried the ball down the right side of the field along the sideline, beating his Falcon defender and turning in toward the penalty box to send in a cross. Ames drove a low lining cross through to the box, where the first Raider attacker let the pass through to the feet of senior Dustin Tiddick, who was waiting near the penalty spot. Tiddick sent a shot continuing toward the far post, just beyond the dive of senior senior keeper Jared Clugston, and into the net to even the match at one apiece with 11:28 gone.
After the quick comeback by the Raiders, Messiah fought hard to take back the lead, with Pezon nailing the crossbar on a shot just one minute later and freshman Joshua Wood barely missing sending in a header in the 18th minute. After that, however, RWC effectively limited the Falcons from getting any more dangerous opportunities, while continuing to carry and pressure with some possession of their own.
Messiah had an 11-5 advantage in shots at the intermission, but Roberts Wesleyan's equalizer was enough to keep the score deadlocked at one.
Once the whistle blew for the start of the second half, however, it looked like a whole different set of teams on the field. Once again, it was the Falcons who would net an early goal, and it was once again scored in the ninth minute of the half.
Pezon carried the ball down along the right side and into the penalty box yet again. This time instead of attacking the goal, he sent a soft, chip-cross into the center of the box just below the penalty spot, where freshman Josh Wood was waiting — unmarked. Wood then rose up into the air and sent a strong header low and back to the right post, eluding Read and hitting the netting to send the Falcons back on top 2-1.
Two minutes later, Wood would nearly net another goal, this coming on a corner kick from the left side of the field. The ball was sent into the box, where Wood had somehow again had been left unmarked. He chested the ball up in the air for himself, then turned and sent a perfectly executed bicycle kick heading low toward the far post.
It was only by tremendous effort from Read, making one of his 10 saves on the night, that the ball did not go into the net.
It did not appear to matter too much to the Falcons, however, who had suddenly regained all the lost momentum of the first half and more. In the 15th minute of the second half, sophomore Trevor Lee got deep into RWC territory on the right side of the field and sent a cross curling into the penalty box. Junior Nick Thompson came flying in out of nowhere at the far post and slammed the ball, along with Read, into the back of the net with a rocket header, earning Thompson not only a goal on the evening but a cautionary yellow card for his contact with the Raiders' net minder.
Again, even that yellow card couldn't slow the Falcons down. With a 3-1 lead now, the home team really poured it on, similar to the steady onslaught of rain on the evening. In the 23rd minute of the half, the Falcons worked what was probably their smoothest goal on the evening in terms of team play.
Senior Calvin Todd gained possession of the ball in the offensive midfield for the Falcons. Surveying his options, Todd sent a well placed chip pass down to the top left of the Raiders penalty box for freshman JP Fulton. Fulton in turn sent a chip of his own across to the direct top of the penalty box for sophomore Tom Renko. Finally, Renko sent a beautiful one-timed volley pass straight down the box toward the goal, where it was collected by onrushing junior Mark Jeschke, who put the ball right past Read and into the net, sending the Falcons up 4-1.
Messiah would net its final two goals on deflections by Roberts Wesleyan defenders. In the 34th minute of the half, sophomore Sam Woodworth took control of a Falcon cross inside the right half of the Raiders penalty box. After turning with the ball to face the cage, Woodworth sent a low lining shot on goal, but it was deflected by the foot of a Raider defender and sent off course, away from a diving Read and into the back of the net. Just eight minutes later, a virtual replay of that situation occurred, with junior Sean Cunningham receiving a corner kick in the same spot and sending his shot into the net by virtue of a friendly deflection. Cunningham closed out his goal and the Falcons' side of the scorebooks with a sweet, running head-first flip right in front of the Falcons' bench for one of the more impressive celebrations on the year.
“We really picked up the intensity in the second half,” McCarty stated. “We created a lot of opportunities.”
Roberts Wesleyan College tallied one more goal with one minute remaining in the game, as sophomore Dominic Coco sent a shot on goal and was rewarded with a friendly deflection of his own, as a Messiah defender stepped in front of the shot but directed it past newly inserted junior keeper Kyle Fulks and into the net.
It was way too little way too late for the Raiders, however, as Messiah posted the final result of 6-2 in their favor, netting four of their six goals from players not normally on the starting roster, including one from Wood, starting in place of sophomore Danny Thompson.
“We really don't miss a beat when we put those guys in,” said McCarty, emphasizing the confidence the entire team has in their ability to play and play well.
Messiah finishes off its busy week with a game in front of what is expected to be a jam-packed house at Shoemaker Field Saturday, as the Falcons will serve as the grand finale of the institution's Centennial Homecoming weekend. Messiah will host Arcadia University at 6:30 p.m.
