Box Score
Elizabethtown, PA — Host Elizabethtown College made far more efficient use of its shots Wednesday afternoon at Wolf Field, handing Messiah a 13-8 defeat in a battle of the MAC's lone unbeaten squads.
With the win, E'Town (14-2, 10-0) — ranked 17th in the latest IWLCA Top 20 National Poll — secures the number one seed for the upcoming MAC Playoffs. Messiah (11-4, 9-1) will settle into the two seed, as the Falcons' nine-game winning streak was halted in the defeat.
“We knew this would be a tough test, and there's a reason E'Town hasn't lost a league game all season,” said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. “I felt like we competed hard, but we just struggled overall shooting. We shot the ball very poorly. Against a team as good as E'Town, you can't do that and expect to win.”
Greer's club made just eight out of 27 attempts on the afternoon (29.6 percent), far and away the team's worst shooting clip of the season. E'Town, meanwhile, converted 13 of 29 attempts, seemingly making the most of opportunities in the attacking third.
The Blue Jays got on the board less than a minute into play, as senior Katie Foley scored the first two of her game-high four goals at the 29:21 and 28:16 marks of the first half. Freshman Deb Tam pulled Messiah within a 2-1 count at the 27:22 clip off a free position shot, but another E'Town score made it a 4-1 game with just over 25 minutes to go in the first.
Messiah then received goals from a hobbling Megan Bovenzi (sophomore) and Jackie Dando (senior) to pull within a 4-3 difference, but a 4-0 run from the hosts brought the Falcons' momentum to a standstill.
A score from junior Nikki Lawrence provided a bit of hope at the 8:46 mark, but another run from the Blue Jays — this one a 5-0 spurt encompassing both sides of halftime — made it a 12-4 game with just under 20 minutes to go.
By that point, Bovenzi was finished for the afternoon — a nagging ankle sprain limited her to just 15 minutes of action — while freshman Rachel Coyle was also limited in minutes due to a lower leg issue.
And while Greer's club would score the final three goals of the night — freshmen Rachel Dicksen, Tam and Coyle all put points on the board — it was simply Elizabethtown's day: The Blue Jays ran their MAC record to a perfect 10-0 mark, keeping an 11-game winning streak in tact.
“We had a little bit of a surge late in the second half, but it was just too little, too late,” Greer said. “It was good to get a preview of what we may have to go through (in post-season play), though. We've got a long way to go to see (E'Town) again, but hopefully this will better prepare us if we do.”
Tam was Messiah's only multiple-goal scorer, finishing two of her three shots on the day. Dirksen was limited to just one goal for only the second time this season.
Messiah won the draw control game by a 14-9 count, as senior Brianne Brennan claimed four. Tam secured three from midfield. Freshman Jaime Gerhart caused two turnovers, the only Falcon to create more than a singular E'Town giveaway on the game.
“Brianne really competed today,” Greer said. “She was dominant on the draw, as she always is, and really gave us some transition opportunities in the midfield. We've just got to be stronger with our shots and on our attack.”
Messiah will next travel to King's College Saturday afternoon to compete in a game with no post-season implications. The Falcons and the Monarchs are slated to begin competition at 1 p.m.
