By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — If only the Messiah men's lacrosse program could somehow skip its home-opening games.
Following a first half which saw nine unanswered goals for visiting Ursinus College, the Falcons dropped their fifth straight season-opening tilt at Anderson Field, falling by an 11-1 score Saturday afternoon.
It wasn't for lack of opportunities. Things started going the Messiah's way in the early minutes, as possession was gained and a man-up advantage was created after a cross-checking penalty against Ursinus (2-0) at the 12:20 mark.
But despite the advantage, the Falcons could not score or create a good chance for a goal. The Bears forced a turnover and killed the penalty by sprinting down the field and bringing the minute penalty to an end.
With the penalty over and already possessing on the offensive side of the field, the Bears quickly went to work as senior Eric Farris lunged from the left side of the net and scored a low goal to put his team up 1-0 with 11:09 left to play in the first period.
Messiah (0-2) would get two more man-up advantages in the first quarter, but would fail to produce a goal in both chances.
With 1:00 left in the first period, Bears' senior Dan Monzo would create any easy goal for classmate Pat Nagle. Monzo lined up on the left side of the field and darted towards the cage. The shot that he produced was high and deflected off of junior goalie
Zach Cureton's helmet and into the air. Nagle, who was posting up in front of the cage, turned, jumped in the air, slashed and redirected the ball into the back of the net — just past Cureton.
Then the flood gates opened against the Falcons' defense.
Seven goals from six different Ursinus players in the second period — two in the early minutes and four in the final four minutes of the period — was simply too much to overcome for the home team. As disappointed head coach Geof Weisenborn stated after the game, his team didn't play to the fundamentals of the game.
“It was just a poor showing defensively in the first half,” Weisenborn said. “(Ursinus) played with intensity and they were the aggressor. Our defense gave up easy opportunities for them to score and we didn't do the small things that we should have done that are fundamental for defense.”
Weisenborn continued, discussing his squad's offensive inefficiency.
“We didn't match their intensity,” Weisenborn said. “It was disappointing that we had so many chances with a man up and didn't use them to our advantage (0-7 on the day). Our problem was we didn't have clean stick work. That is key for offense. If you can't control the ball, you waste opportunities. And we didn't finish shots. Eight (shots shots on goal) to 22 (shots) is not what we expect from our attack. We need more shots and more shots that have a purpose and get on goal.”
In the first half, Messiah won six of 10 face-offs, picked up eight ground balls and cleared five of six defensive stops.
Respectable numbers, but the Falcons still trailed by nine goals.
Weisenborn pulled Cureton for sophomore
Josh Stewart in cage and made some other changes on offense — all in hopes of creating some better chances for his team.
But when freshman
Zac Smith was called for a slashing penalty with 8:00 to play in the third period, Monzo, Farris and the rest of the Bears made sure they used the man-up advantage to full effect. Farris found Monzo with a nice pass and Monzo finished the play with his second of three goals on the day. Both Monzo and Farris would finish with four points on the day.
But Weisenborn stuck with his change, one of them being sophomore
Andrew Nichols. After a turnover by the Falcons on offense, Nichols forced a failed clear by an Ursinus defender, and gained possession 20 yards from the cage. A little shake and bake move during his one-on-one with the goalie created the right space for Nichols to pound a shot home for Messiah's only goal of the day.
Regardless of the goal, Wiesenborn said that this was not the result he was excepting from his team.
“This was disappointing,” Weisenborn said. “I didn't think that (Ursinus) was this much better than us. Our turnovers killed us.”
Now, Weisenborn and his team have a week to keep improving before York College visits Anderson Field next Saturday.
It will likely be an intense week of practice.
“If you look at this game, we didn't look like we improved (from
our loss at Gettysburg College Feb. 24),” Weisenborn added. “But looking back at practice from then and now, we are getting better in little steps. I know today's game didn't reflect that, but we are. And now we have a week to continue our progress.”
Messiah will host York at Anderson Field next Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
