By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Prior to the start of Saturday's match-up with 18th-ranked William Smith College, Messiah field hockey took a moment to honor Herons' head coach Sally Scatton for her upcoming induction to the National Field Hockey Coaches' Association Hall of Fame.
Scatton was presented flowers from Messiah head coach — and fellow Hall of Famer — Jan Trapp, and the pair shared a hug.
That was the extent of Messiah's hospitality on the afternoon.
Messiah (9-0) kept their perfect season intact behind four first-half goals, leading to a 6-1 victory over William Smith Herons at Anderson Field, in a day that was perfect for field hockey.
Ranked number one in the nation according to the latest NFHCA/Kookabura Top 20 Poll, the Falcons combined a strong offensive outburst with a stellar defensive performance en route to one of the team's more dominating wins on the season.
“Today was a good win for us against a program that I respect deeply, Trapp said. “Sally and I have coached against each other a lot of times, and she always has her teams ready to compete.”
Trapp's club wasted no time asserting its dominance following the pregame ceremony, as senior midfielder Liz Ziegler began the scoring just 3:53 into the contest. Ziegler took a pass from junior Julie Barton off a corner and sent it into the back of the net from the left wing, giving the Falcons an early 1-0 lead.
Senior forward Katie Love – the team's leading scorer on the season – then blasted a shot into the goal mouth at the 17:05 mark, seemingly scoring her 10th goal of the year.
A closer review showed that junior forward Kourtney Ehly got her stick on the ball just before it crossed the line, however, giving Ehly her seventh goal of the season and Love her fifth assist.
“Our girls always feel badly when that happens, especially when the ball was going in the goal anyway, like it was on Katie's shot,” Trapp said. “I always tell them, over the course of the year, it all evens out.”
Regardless of who received credit for the team's second goal of the afternoon, the Falcons were on their way to erupting, scoring four times in a span of eight minutes and 40 seconds – twice before halftime and twice after – to take a commanding 6-0 lead over the Herons.
Junior midfielder Amber Philpot notched Messiah's third marker, scoring unassisted at the 31:06 mark, and freshman forward Emily Hursh followed with a goal of her own at the 33:34 mark, to give the Falcons a 4-0 lead at halftime.
The Falcons kept up their momentum after halftime, scoring twice in the first five minutes, to complete the team's most impressive scoring outburst of the season.
Senior forward Jenna Max scored at the 38:21 mark and then helped start a build-up that was finished in Ehly's second goal of the day at the 39:46 mark.
When the dust cleared, the Falcons had a 6-0 lead against one of the top teams in the nation, and held on during the last 30-plus minutes for the win.
The Herons did manage to push across a goal with just under five minutes to play, getting inside Messiah's back line to thwart the shut-out attempt at the 65:07 point.
“Make no mistake, we're still not where we want to be,” Trapp said afterward. “If we want to stay where we are right now, we won't. You either go up or you go down. The other great teams in the country, they're getting better. We've got to do the same.”
Trapp's defense again proved stellar, coming within five minutes of a third consecutive team shutout, this one against the 18th ranked team in the nation. In all, the Falcons' defense put together a streak of 210 minutes – the length of three full games – without allowing a goal before the Herons were finally able to get on the scoreboard near the end of today's game.
Senior goalie Ashley Mowery played her usual superb game in goal, allowing no goals in 64:01 of play, while registering four saves. Freshman Angie Klaczak took over for the final 5:59 and allowed a goal, but also made four saves of her own in very limited action.
“It's always great when you can get everyone in the game, and we've been able to do that the last few games,” Trapp said. “I'm proud of the girls in how they continued to play to a standard – they never play down or get lazy when we've got a lead. A big part of our game is the pressure we can put on people, and a big part of that is our bench. If someone gests tired, we've got someone who can come in and keep up that level of play.”
The Falcons will take the field again Tuesday afternoon at Commonwealth Conference rival Albright College (4-7), a matchup that will be played at the Lions' Shirk Stadium. That contest begins a streak of six Commonwealth Conference games in a span of just over three weeks for the Falcons. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
