Box Score
By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Heading into Saturday's Commonwealth Conference Championship game at Anderson Field, Messiah head coach Jan Trapp had said her team would need to play a tremendous game to come away with a victory against arch rival Lebanon Valley College.
It's safe to say the Falcons did their part admirably.
Ranked atop the final Kookaburra/NFHCA Top 20 Coaches Poll, Messiah scored three second-half goals and contained the high-powered LVC offense en route to a convincing, 5-2 win over the Dutchmen, putting vast separation on what many believed would be a neck-and-neck affair: After the Falcons' 3-2, overtime win at Lebanon Valley Oct. 20 and two late-season Messiah victories that were decided by just two goals last season, all things pointed to another fantastic finish.
There was no such drama Saturday, however, as Messiah (16-2) earned its 17th Commonwealth Conference Championship overall and fourth consecutive.
“This was definitely our top test of the season so far,” Trapp said after Saturday's tilt. “I am really proud of the way our girls played. (LVC coach Laurel Martin) and I have the utmost respect for one another. She is a wonderful coach and she has a really great team this year.”
It was the sixth straight season in which the Falcons and Dutchmen met in the Commonwealth Championship, dating back to 2005. Messiah, which had split with LVC the first two years, captured its fourth straight title via LVC defeat, earning its eighth straight win over the Dutchmen overall.
Messiah also extended its home field winning streak to a remarkable 33 games, a stretch dating all the way back to the first home tilt of the 2008 season.
“There's no question we love playing here and have a lot of pride playing here,” Trapp said. “That's why (the regular-season game with) Lebanon Valley is so important.”
With Saturday's game location decided thanks to the Falcons' extra-time win two and a half weeks back, both teams battled to a hard-fought defensive struggle early on, before the hosts finally broke the ice at the 19:21 mark and again at 19:43.
Senior and leading scorer Kourtney Ehly converted a goal on a pass from senior and Commonwealth Co-Player of the Year Julie Barton, to plate the Falcons with a 1-0 advantage.
Just 22 seconds later, freshman Brooke Sands took the ball the length of the field and passed to Juliana Hershey, whose low shot worked its way past LVC junior goalkeeper Christine Poletti, putting Messiah up 2-0.
“Our offense was very good today,” Trapp said. “(Senior) Amber ([Philpot] Good) has been our workhorse all season, Kourtney (Ehly) had a great game, and Julie (Barton) was phenomenal as always.”
With Messiah seemingly in good position to win the game, Lebanon Valley (18-2) fought back, a goal from LVC's Kelsey Miller cut the Falcons' lead to a single goal just four minutes later.
A nifty score by LVC junior Jocelyn Novak — the second recipient of the Commonwealth Co-Player of the Year award — knotted the game at two goals apiece at 44:19.
Suddenly, things looked very Messiah-LVC-ish.
“LVC is a scary offensive team with the ability to score a goal at any time,” Trapp said. “(Jocelyn's) goal was a tremendous goal.”
At that point, Hershey took matters into her own hands.
The Smoketown, Pa. native sprinted down the field to save a ball from going out of bounds, putting herself in perfect position to score. She then took a long pass from Barton on the right side and slid a drive into the back of the cage — battling a defender on her back — scoring what would prove to be the game-winner.
“What a heroic effort that was by Juliana Hershey,” Trapp said. “She really made a big play for us and scored an amazing goal.”
It was Hershey's second straight multi-goal game, while Barton's two assists for the day gave her a team-high 17 for the season and helped earn her the tournament MVP award.
Constant pressure from the Falcons' offense against LVC's back four led to two more Messiah goals, as sophomore Kelly Martin scored unassisted at 59:07 and Sands knocked in a pass from Ehly at 62:30.
On the day, Messiah was credited with 27 shots to Lebanon Valley's 15, charting 10 penalty corners to the Dutchmen's seven.
“(Three second-half goals) was something I was very happy to see from our offense,” Trapp said. “We've really been stressing all year for the girls to play hard in both halves and they did a fine job of that today.”
The Messiah defense — which entered the game averaging just 0.58 goals against per game, third in the entire NCAA Division III nation — held up for the rest of the way against LVC's number-two ranked offense, preserving a 5-2 Falcons' win. Freshman goalkeeper Kayleigh Stewart played the duration in cage, finishing with four saves. Freshman and Commonwealth Rookie of the Year Gina Kellett also finished with a defensive save, sliding in to stop a would-be Dutchmen goal in the first half.
“We stressed certain things because of (LVC's) tendencies,” Trapp said. “We watched a lot of game tape of them and put in a lot of new corners for today's game. Our girls have such tremendous team speed and they really played well today.”
With its 12th consecutive win in the books, Messiah will now await Monday's NCAA selection show to find out when, where and who it will face in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Falcons will be making their 24th straight appearance in the 'Big Dance' and will be looking for a First Round-bye — and potential hosting of a Second/Third Round pod at Anderson Field.
Those possibilities will be clarified beginning Monday morning at 9 a.m., where NCAA.com will broadcast the NCAA Division III Field Hockey selection show. Brackets and tournament information will be posted on this site following the broadcast.
