Grantham, PA — Coming into Saturday evening's clash with third-ranked Ursinus College, Messiah head coach Jan Trapp said a special effort from her team would be needed.
Scoring three goals in the span of less than two minutes would classify as exactly that.
Messiah — ranked fourth in the Kookaburra/NFHCA Top 20 Pre-Season Poll — responded from an early 1-0 deficit with a three-goal eruption late in the first half, holding on to claim a 4-3 decision over the visiting Bears at Anderson Field. The Falcons' fourth consecutive regular-season win over Ursinus, it was Messiah's blink-of-an-eye scoring surge that set the tone for the remainder of the game, as Trapp's club tallied scores at the 27:11, 28:10 and 29:03 marks to eventually come away with a win in the highly-anticipated early-season match-up.
“You don't see three goals scored like that in succession in field hockey, but you especially don't see it against a team as good as Ursinus is,” Trapp said afterward. “I think tonight was all about the girls' tenacity. I think they left everything out on the field. We had some girls step up and play absolutely unbelievable games.”
Those efforts were necessary, especially after Ursinus (1-1) got on the board first with 13:44 elapsed in the first half. Following the Bears' second penalty corner of the evening, Ursinus senior forward Jessica Zatwarnicki collected a feed from junior Lindsey Doutt, putting the ball past Falcons' All-American goalkeeper Ashley Mowery.
Displaying emotion on the way back to centerfield, the Bears had a 1-0 lead.
It remained that way for 14 minutes, until Trapp's club went crazy.
Junior Amber Philpot got things started, taking a cross from senior Emily Sauder and finding the baseboard at the 27:11 mark. Less than a minute later, senior Katie Love was able to pull Ursinus senior goalkeeper Erica Scott well off her line, dumping a point blank offering into the goal.
When Sauder fired a shot on cage 53 seconds later, junior Lauren Tennis was in the right spot, collecting the rebound and stuffing the ball into the cage — both delighting and shocking the capacity Anderson Field crowd.
“Early in the game, we weren't driving the ball well inside the circle,” Trapp said. “But (Ursinus') goal really lit a fire under us. After that, we were really good (offensively). We didn't overpass our teammates and we had some real connections going on. It was fun to watch.”
And even while Messiah's 3-1 lead would last through halftime, Trapp admitted she was “not comfortable at all” with just a two-goal lead. Perhaps as a testament to that thought, the Bears struck first in the second half, taking advantage of another penalty corner to pull within a 3-2 count at the 41:54 mark.
Messiah would again respond, this time with perhaps the most artistic goal of the night.
Junior Kourtney Ehly won a ball near midfield and began dribbling down the right side, Ursinus defenders giving chase. Just before reaching Scott, Ehly pushed the ball across the goal face, where Love was waiting with stick down.
Love slapped the point-blank look into the baseboard with authority, setting off a wild celebration both on the field and in the stands with just under 24 minutes to play.
“That was an amazing goal,” Trapp said. “I think everyone could just feel it developing as Kourtney brought it downfield. She made a great decision with the ball.”
Ursinus would push back, but Messiah's defensive corps would hold on to preserve the win. The Bears scored a controversial goal with 10 and a half minutes remaining — Bears' sophomore Alyssa Thren put in a shot that appeared to deflect off another Ursinus player — but Messiah's possession game would eventually win out. The Falcons tallied a total 21 shots on the night to Ursinus' 18, ripping off 11 penalty corners to the Bears' eight.
“I thought our defense really shored up late,” Trapp said. “I thought (senior) Mary Hoover was especially good. Ursinus has excellent stick work, but we tackled back, we double-teamed … I call them 'heroic efforts.' That's what you have to have in order to win games like this.”
Love led Messiah's offense with two goals off of six shots on goal, while Ehly, Tennis and Philpot each recorded two shots on frame.
“I thought (senior) Jenna Max played the game of her life tonight,” Trapp said. “She and Emily Sauder just had a connection all night long. We struggled a little bit on corners, but our field work was very solid. There were some things we didn't do perfectly, but any mistake we made wasn't from a lack of effort.”
Saturday's match-up featured two of last season's Final Four teams, as Bowdoin College beat Ursinus 3-2 in the national semi-final opposite of the Messiah-Tufts University match-up. And while it was both teams' second game of the season, it was later than last year's season-opening match-up in Collegeville, Pa.
“We've got so many league games to get in, the only time you can schedule games like this is early in the season,” Trapp said. “We want to play good teams, so really this is the only time to do it.”
Messiah will return to action Wednesday, when the Falcons host Eastern University. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
