Box Score
By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — When it rains, it pours.
Messiah brought the rain early with four goals in the first half and washed away a water-logged Eastern University squad in the second, beating the Eagles by a score of 7-0 Wednesday night.
As the game started, so did a light mist over Shoemaker Field — picking up in intensity as the game went on. And as the rain dropped, so did the goals for the Falcons.
Action was in favor for Messiah (10-0) early. Just over 10 minutes into the game, junior Jess Shirk showed flare and finesse with her possession on the ball. On the right wing, Shirk did a one-two step over move to beat the first Eastern defender to her left and two-touched past another a second defender to gain an opening in the Eagles' box.
Shirk played a short, small cross to sophomore Corinne Wulf — who was making a diagonal run to the near post — and Wulf finished with her fourth goal of the year at the 34:23 mark.
“We've been working a lot on turf to be quicker on our two-touch passes,” senior Amanda Naeher said. “When the rain started, we had to be accurate on our passes. If it wasn't on the mark, we would play our teammate into a bad spot. We had to play to feet and make good decisions.”
As the rain kept falling, the flood gates opened for the Falcons, the next score courtesy of Naeher. The Seymour, Conn. native seemed out of sight at a first glance, but when Wulf played a through ball past the Eagles back line, Naeher came in sliding, somehow able to turn her hips to get off a shot past Eastern freshman goalkeeper Sarah Herman to the far post for her 18th goal of the year at the 28:01 mark.
“Eastern is always a hyped up game,” Naeher said. “The last two years have been close games, and we always come ready for it. Our energy was already high and as we started scoring goals, our energy level kept increasing.”
That energy continued eight minutes later, as senior Molly Bletz knocked in her first career goal via a beautiful lob shot. After trapping a cleared ball, Bletz stepped into space just outside the 18-yard box on the left side. With virtually no pressure on her, Bletz hit a great shot high enough to lob over Herman at the 20:09 mark.
“That was a great hit from Molly,” Messiah head coach Scott Frey said. “She has been solid for us for so long in the back. I always love it when someone scores their first goal, but Molly's was a great shot, too.”
Messiah's final goal of the half was a hustle play to say the least. Freshman Alicia Frey was dribbling down the left side of the field and played a low cross, hydroplaning across the wet grass in the goal mouth. Eastern third-string goalkeeper Michelle Brown miss judged the ball and speedy junior Lisa Wingard did the rest: Making a run from her right winger position, Wingard arrived via a dead sprint and tapped the ball into the goal for her second goal of the year.
At the half, Messiah's lead seemed insurmountable, using their possession game and speed to show how worthy they are of the top ranking in this week's NSCAA/Adidas and D3Soccer.com national Top 25 polls.
It also didn't help that Eastern — already without usual starting keeper Alysia Goodman due to injury — had to play the entire second half with Brown, a freshman midfielder making her first collegiate appearance in goal.
And even though the cold rain put a damper on the last 45 minutes of play, the Falcons played with a spark of energy.
“I think a lot of that had to do with how much fun we were having,” Naeher said. “The men's team came out to support us and that is always great. We get to show off to them how we play. But they kept the energy there for us, too. They were there in the cold rain with us. It was great fan support to help us get through.”
In the second half, Messiah cruised with three goals on 14 shots. Freshmen Alicia Frey and Ali Rogers both scored with under 10 minutes to play while Naeher put in her team leading 19th goal of the season before making an early exit to the bench.
“This was a good test for us,” Naeher said. “It was an emotional game for us and we played with intelligence. Playing Eastern adds something to the game to bring out our best and tonight we did.”
Naeher continued, talking about Frey's challenge for this team's improvement.
“Coach always says that we have to get better,” she said. “It is humbling because we are playing so well and he expects growth from us. Even though we are playing well, we want to improve every minute, every half, every game and every practice. Every time we step on the field, we want to get better and tonight, we showed just some of the ways that we are getting better.”
The win marked the fourth time this season the Falcons have notched seven goals on their opponents, and the ninth time they have not allowed a goal.
Messiah's next contest starts the run of Commonwealth Conference play, as the Falcons travel to Arcadia Saturday to play the Knights. Game time is set for 12 p.m.
