By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Reading, PA — Slow and methodical, Messiah's latest victory was not.
The Falcons used a four-goal-in-four-minute push to surge ahead in the first half of Tuesday afternoon's Commonwealth Conference match-up with Albright College, eventually cruising to the team's 10th win in as many attempts behind a 7-0 decision at the Lions' Shirk Stadium.
“It was a great team effort today,” said Jan Trapp, Messiah head coach. “Once we got the first goal in, it just woke everyone up. And it was nice to get everyone (into the game).”
The Falcons — who have outscored their opponents 48-10 this season — captured their third shutout in the last four games, while improving their Commonwealth Conference record to 2-0.
Tuesday's game started with a defensive effort from both sides, as neither Albright (5-8, 1-2) nor Messiah (10-0, 2-0) could push across a goal for 29-plus minutes. Each goalie stood her ground and the game appeared as if it might head into halftime with a scoreless tie.
And then the Falcons' offense took over.
In one of the greatest scoring explosions in the program's history, the Falcons put together an unheard of four goals in a span of 4:33 — the final three coming in a span of under two minutes —heading into halftime with a comfortable 4-0 lead.
The scoring didn't stop there, however, as the Falcons added another score within the first minute of the second half, taking a 5-0 lead that was never challenged by the Lions.
“It's definitely unusual to score that many goals in a row,” said Trapp. “Everything just kind of came together then. In the beginning it took our girls a little bit of time to get used to the surface, but once they got used to it, we just started scoring.”
It was fitting for Messiah that the team's leading scorer for the season — senior forward Katie Love — started the offensive outburst with a goal off a loose ball at the 29:13 mark.
Love scored again at the 32:01 mark, with juniors Julie Barton and Kourtney Ehly sharing credit for the assist. Both added goals of their own immediately after, with Ehly scoring an unassisted goal at the 33:12 mark and Barton knocking in a pass from classmate Amber Philpot at the 33:46 clip.
Halftime came and went, and the Falcons jumped right back on the scoreboard with an early goal from Philpot off a pass from senior Emily Sauder for a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Falcons added another goal at the 48:01 mark, as freshman Kaitlin Smith notched her first collegiate tally, taking a long pass from nearly the width of the field and rifling a shot past Albright sophomore keeper Kaitlyn Johnstone to the far post. Love scored her third goal of the day, assisted by freshmen Juliana Hershey and Kelly Martin. Smith then doubled her career scoring total just over 18 minutes later, blasting an unassisted tally at the 66:42 mark to cap off the scoring for the day.
Messiah's defense again was outstanding, keeping Albright without a shot throughout the game. Senior goalie Ashley Mowery extended her streak without allowing a goal to 194 minutes, but the real story was Messiah's explosive offense, which pummeled the Lions back line for 29 shots and 19 penalty corners in one of the Falcons' most dominating performances of the season.
Messiah will hit the road again for its next contest, facing arch league rival Elizabethtown College Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
