By Travis Galaska, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Many college sports teams typically schedule fairly easy opponents for their annual homecoming games, hoping to shine in front of their biggest crowd of the year.
For the Falcons this season, neither of those were supposed to be the case, as the team was slated to face a tough Arcadia University side on a normally quiet Monday night, after the original Centennial Homecoming Weekend play-date was postponed due to inclement weather.
However, in the end, even the Falcons ended up playing to the norms, as the good-sized Monday night crowd saw Messiah dominate the Knights en route to their second straight 8-0 victory, posting one of the more atypical “typical” homecoming results.
With Arcadia (11-5-2, 4-0-1) coming off a huge 1-0 win over #24 Elizabethtown College to take sole control of second place in the Commonwealth Conference on Saturday, many expected a low scoring, back-and-forth match with Messiah (15-1, 5-0). However, when all was said and done, the Falcons tallied eight goals for the second straight time and recorded their third straight shutout and ninth on the season, completing their regular season at Shoemaker Field with a perfect 9-0 record.
“We played well on both sides of the ball tonight,” said Messiah head coach Brad McCarty, speaking of the total positive effort by his team. “We were sharp, ready to play, disciplined and dangerous.”
Just like Saturday's slop-fest against Alvernia University, Messiah — ranked third in both of last week's top 25 national polls — got on the board early and never looked back. Just two minutes into the opening half, while most spectators were still grabbing their seats, junior Geoff Pezon tipped a through pass down to the left corner for sophomore Danny Thompson. Thompson, with plenty of time alone on the left side, sent a beautiful cross right into the center of the penalty box. Freshman Josh Wood settled the ball right at the penalty spot and sent a quick shot to the bottom right corner of the net for an early 1-0 Falcon lead.
As the half continued, the Knights' reception only continued to worsen. In the 15th minute the home team would get on the board for the second time. Danny Thompson gained possession of the ball on the left side of the field and passed it low to the corner for his older brother, junior Nick Thompson. Nick sent a low cross into the box, but it was deflected by the Arcadia defense. The ball went off course and rolled toward the left post, right toward Knights senior keeper Jeff Kratohwill. Kratohwill waited along the goal line inside the post for the ball to come to him, but Pezon raced in from the top of the box and met the ball just before the Arcadia netminder could pick it up. Pezon coolly sent in a low ball right through Kratohwill's legs and into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Just three minutes later, the team in white would get on the board again. Wood took a pass at the top of the offensive third and sent a short pass back toward midfield for Pezon. As soon as the pass was made, Wood turned and burned for the end line, running straight through the Arcadia defense. Pezon sent a beautiful chip over the last defender, putting the ball right in front of Wood, who sent a shot right to the middle of the net and past the onrushing Kratohwill, making the lead 3-0 at the 17:33 mark.
Although the Falcons dominated possession the entire half, they would not score again until the 33rd minute. Junior Keaton Kasiguran made a strong run down the left side of the field and sent a great cross to an open spot inside the penalty box. Freshman Dan Squire raced in from the top of the box and sent a highlight-reel diving header toward the near post. The ball caromed off the inside half of the post and rolled across the goal line and into the netting to complete the scoring for the half at 4-0 in favor of the Falcons.
As the halftime break came and went, there was no respite for the weary Knights. After being held shotless in the first half by the strong offense and stingy defense of the Falcons, the second half only continued the exercise in futility.
Messiah reopened the scorebooks for the half just five minutes in, as Wood used his strong physique and tall frame to post-up at the top of the penalty box on the left-hand side. Taking a pass from straight up the field, Wood shielded his defender from the ball and spun around quickly, leaving him alone and racing in toward the rushing Kratohwill.
Again, Wood calmly put a low shot to the right past the keeper and into the net, giving Wood his seventh, eighth, and ninth goals on the season and his first career hat-trick.
Just five minutes later, the Falcons would extend their lead to 6-0 on a tough play for the Knights. Danny Thompson crossed a ball from low in the left corner, but there was nobody on the receiving end and the Arcadia defense cleared the ball straight up the field. Unfortunately for them, the clearance attempt went straight to the feet of Nick Thompson, who took a few dribbles and set up a wide open shot from 28 yards out. Thompson sent his shot low and hard at the bottom left corner of the cage, but about 15 yards from net, the ball was redirected by senior Brett Faro. The ball carried back to the right and against the grain for keeper Kratohwill and rolled slowly into the back right of the net.
Again, the Falcons would dominate the half, both in terms of possession and goal scoring, and this effort continued even late in the half. With eight minutes remaining in the game, Kasiguran set up a cross from low in the left corner again. The cross was a good one, and ended up right on the feet of junior Mark Jeschke. Jeschke, with his back to the goal, took a short dribble and sent the ball just a few feet away, setting it up perfectly for a shot by Squire again. This time, Squire used his foot, and drilled a shot low to the right side netting, making the score 7-0.
To close out the scorebooks on the night, Kasiguran ripped a shot from the top left corner of the Knights' penalty box. The ball had good curl and great pace, but Kratohwill made a great diving save to his left, his sixth of the evening. However, the ball trickled slowly off Kratohwill's hands and ended up on the right side of the goal box. Jeschke raced in from the top of the box and beat all other defenders to the ball, putting the wide open shot into the back of the net to end the game at 8-0.
For the Falcons, it was a solid win over one of their top competitors within the Commonwealth Conference, but McCarty wasn't ready to overlook any teams in the league yet, especially Arcadia.
“We'll probably see them at some point in the conference playoffs,” he said. “If we do see them again, it'll be a lot closer … but we try to focus a lot of effort on finding ways to limit our opponents, and that worked out well for us tonight.”
On the negative side for the Falcons, the team is seeing the injury total mount, as sophomore and regular starter Kent Ramirez saw no action on the evening. The Falcons also suffered the loss of solid senior defender Josh Mull early on in tonight's game, as Mull pulled up lame after making a strong defensive run early in the first half.
“Injuries are a part of sports, especially this time of year,” McCarty said. “We're struggling with them, but the great thing for us is we have depth and we can handle it.”
Arcadia looks to rebound from tonight's loss against Alvernia on Saturday, while the Falcons close out their regular season with two road games, the first being at Albright College Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
“It's a tough place to play out there,” said McCarty. “The last two times out there it's been close, and it'll probably be real close again Wednesday night.”
