By Travis Galaska, GoMessiah.com reporter
Williamsport, PA — There's always a competition day or two where your favorite athletic team has to travel to some pretty unfriendly confines.
Wednesday was just one of those days for Messiah men's soccer, as the Falcons made the two-hour jaunt north to the home of Little League Baseball to square off in a Commonwealth Conference game against Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa.
Oh, but it wasn't for the screaming fans that made the game so nasty. No, there were only 72 of them, with a large amount actually being Falcon supporters.
Instead, it was the cramped quarters of the Robert L. Shangraw Athletic Complex's soccer field, which plays as one of, if not the smallest field in the conference.
“Yes, it can be very difficult to play on such a narrow field like this,” said Messiah head coach Brad McCarty.
It seemed to be no matter to Messiah (13-1, 3-0), however, as they sprinted out to an early one-goal lead and ran away from Lycoming (10-6-1, 0-4-1) in the second half, keeping their conference record unblemished in a 4-0 win.
The Falcons started out strong on what was a crisp, clear fall day. Just five minutes into the match, senior defender Josh Mull gained control of the ball in the Falcons' defensive third with plenty of time to look up field for an attack. Spotting an opening, Mull sent an awesome ball all the way down to the left side of the offensive third of the field and through the Warrior defense for junior Geoff Pezon. A Warrior defender sprinted back to try and cover and got right on Pezon's shoulder to attempt to shove him off the ball and regain possession. Pezon stood strong, however, shrugging off the shoulder tackle and getting by the defender, catching up with the ball right near the left end line. Turning back toward the middle of the field, Pezon quickly sent a low pass right to the top of the Warrior penalty box, where it was controlled by wide open junior Nick Thompson. Thompson redirected the bouncing pass with a low volley right at the center of the goal. Senior Warrior keeper David Bald dove to his right to make the save, and managed to get his hands on the ball, but it caromed off his hands and further to his right, sneaking just inside the post for a very early 1-0 lead for the Falcons.
“I'm not sure that goal changed the game or anything like that,” said McCarty, “but it was sure nice to have.”
After giving up the early goal, Lycoming did their best to try to come right back. In the 13th minute, Warriors freshman Jimmy Deasel got open low in the right corner of the field and was able to send in a perfect cross. Sophomore Chris Burgess was waiting right near the penalty spot in the box, and rose up to get a head on the ball, but the ball barely cleared his attempt, flying all the way through the box and out of any danger for the Falcons.
It was then the Falcons' turn to flex some offensive power.
After strong possession and hard work in the offensive third, the Falcons earned a free kick after a foul from 25 yards just about straight on from the goal. Sophomore Kent Ramirez sent in the kick, curving it from right to left right into the center of the box, where Nick Thompson again was waiting and this time got his head on the ball, sending it toward the right upper 90 of the Warrior frame. Bald was forced to make a great diving save, laying out full in the air to his left to grab the ball just before it got into the net.
Nine minutes later, Bald was again forced to make a tough save, as Pezon sent a great through pass between Warrior defenders for Ramirez to catch up with inside the top of the Warrior penalty box. Ramirez reached the ball just before Bald — coming off his line quickly — was able to get there. Ramirez then lined up a quick one-time shot, but by this time Bald had closed the gap enough that he was right there to redirect the shot away from danger.
This would end the most dangerous of threats for the Falcons in the first half, and though they were up 1-0 on the scoreboard, the short field had been an impact on the ability of the team to connect in the passing game with their usual regularity. Both sides ended up fairly even on the stat sheet at intermission, with each side taking three shots and the Falcons getting the only corner kick of the half.
As has been the case so often this year, however, Messiah really poured it on in the second half.
“Sometimes, yeah, we do change it up a little bit during halftime,” McCarty said. “But today, we stuck with our original plan.”
It's a good thing, too, as the Falcons came out of the half with all the stops out.
Three minutes into the half, Messiah earned a corner kick, which was sent right into the middle of the box, bounced around, and ended up on the foot of Nick Thompson again, who sent a low rocket from the top right corner of the box to the far post, but it skidded just wide and out for a goal kick.
Six minutes later, the Warriors would do all they could to help the Falcons keep rolling. With Messiah pressuring again in the second half, Ramirez sent a cross into the box, but it was in the direction of junior defender Joe Karslo. Karslo lifted his foot to volley the ball out away from danger, but mistimed the swing and the ball instead was volleyed backward, on a line that probably couldn't have been any more unlucky for the Warriors had the ball had been thrown in the direction it went: It sailed in an arc, just over the dive of Bald but just under the crossbar and inside the left post for a disheartening own goal, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
It would only go from bad to worse for the Warriors, as the Falcons dominated the second half with eight shots and seven corner kicks. In the 15th minute of the half, sophomore Danny Thompson was on the receiving end of a pass, but instead let it through his feet for Pezon to collect. Pezon carried the ball on into the box from the right, and sent a very short cross over to the left side, where Nick Thompson had gained a step on his defender. Thompson volleyed a blast toward the near upper 90, but Bald again made an incredible diving save, one of his five on the night.
Just one minute later, the Falcons would find the back of the net on their own again with a virtual duplicate of their first goal. This time, it was Ramirez on the low left side of the field drawing a perfect pass back to the center of the box for a wide open Pezon. Pezon, left all alone in the box, volleyed a shot right into the center of the netting for a 3-0 lead.
With just seven minutes left in the game, the Falcons would close out the scorebooks with a goal from sophomore Derek Black. Freshman Dan Squire gained control of the ball in the offensive third of the field after a Warrior turnover. Squire sent a brilliant chip through the Warrior defense, where Black used his incredible speed to beat the defense and get to the ball. Bald was forced to come off his line to cut down the angle, but Black used great touch and sent a soft chip shot to the right of Bald and over his head, just inside the left side of the net to solidify the score at 4-0.
“Lycoming did a good job of compacting the field, but we stretched them out a little more in the second half,” said McCarty. “Today was one of those 'play ugly and scrap for a win' days.”
No matter what how, a.win is a win for the Falcons, who return home for a rare Saturday afternoon match against Alvernia University next. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at Shoemaker Field.
