By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — Freshman
Kyle Sproles may be new to the lacrosse rivalry that exists with MAC Conference foe Widener University, but his goal in overtime was vintage Wednesday night, capping off a classic — and exhilarating — win for the Falcons, 7-6.
But the ending almost wasn't story book. In fact, it was nearly the opposite.
For the first 50 minutes of the game, Messiah cruised to a solid and comfortable 6-2 lead. Confidence showed and flowed from the back line.
Lead in the goal by sophomore
Josh Stewart and in the field by senior
Morgan Kupfer, the Falcons defense stood strong and showed great resilience. The back line faced a swarm of Pride shots — 26 in the first half — but proved that despite the plethora of chances for Widener, it was quality over quantity as 11 of the 26 were on goal, and only one of those found the back of the netting.
On the other side of the field, it was the other way around for Messiah (6-6, 5-3), as only five shots in the first quarter were put up. But the quality of those five shots were peerless, as three found the back of the net.
The trio of initial goals were brought forth by a trio of players: Senior goal-scoring machine
Nate Windon, classmate
Steve Feltner and Sproles. Feltner's score, his first of the year, opened the game at the 12:23 mark of the first period. Windon continued his outpouring of goals 10 minutes later, increasing his team leading total to 21 and giving Messiah a 2-0 lead.
Sproles' first marker with 19 seconds remaining in the first quarter put the hosts up by a 3-0 count, and it appeared the Falcons were rolling. Widener finally got on the board with 8:06 to go in the second quarter, but Messiah kept the slate clean for the remainder of the stanza, heading into halftime with a 3-1 advantage.
An unassisted tally from Windon in the third was complemented by a goal from senior
Brent Stewart early in the fourth quarter, however, and when Feltner blasted his second score of the night with 5:26 to play, Messiah had its 6-2 advantage.
“Everything was going our way,” said Geof Weisenborn, Messiah head coach. “The defensemen were controlling everything in the back (converting 17 of 19 clears) and stayed strong against (Widener's) strong attack. They just kept shooting and shooting, but our guys played our game, our style of play.”
But Widener (6-7, 5-3) would not trudge off Anderson Field quietly.
While Feltner's goal appeared to be the deal sealer for Messiah, Widener's Cory Malapy crushed the Falcon lead single handedly. His back-to-back goals at the 3:48 and 2:57 marks brought the margin to 6-4, bringing a heavy dose of momentum to the Pride.
Then at the 1:13 mark, Widener's JJ Hoeffler emphatically rocketed a score, and the Widener bench erupted as the lead was now down to one. The Anderson Field crowd began to grow audibly antsy, as they were beginning to witness a reversal of fortunes at the most inopportune of times.
“The last 10 minutes (of regulation) were totally different than the start of the game,” Weisenborn said. “They started pressing and attacking in the back. It didn't help that we turned the ball over on offense and the defense made some careless plays.”
Those issues came to a tipping point with less than 30 seconds remaining, as senior Jared Neis and sophomore Adam Gearhart were both called for pushing penalties — giving Widener a two-man advantage with 12 seconds left.
With time winding down, it was none other than Malapy who finished the improbable comeback for the Pride, bouncing a one-hopper past Stewart 7.5 seconds left in regulation.
A four-goal Messiah lead was gone. In its place, a seething, momentum-filled Widener team.
But Weisenborn said that he saw something in his players' eyes that didn't show fear or intimidation.
He saw confidence.
“The guys came off the field ready for overtime,” Weisenborn said. “They were composed. They were calm. It was as if they didn't give up those goals. They knew that they made mistakes and that those mistakes led to the goals, but they were ready for overtime and ready to win.”
Widener gained possession first in the extra session, outracing junior
J.J. Miller to a groundball after it appeared Miller had won the opening face-off. A subsequent shot was saved by Stewart, his 21st of the night. Stewart then cleared the ball into the midfield, and the Falcons' middies would start the game-winning attack.
“I told (the attackers) what we wanted to do when we gained possession on offense,” Weisenborn said. “I told them the play we wanted to run and they ran it twice perfectly. We got two great chances and Nate (Windon) had a chance right in front of the cage but he shot high and missed. So I took a timeout.
“When I brought the guys in, I told them the two options we were going to run,” Weisenborn continued. “Two different looks for two different styles of defense that Widener gave us. Then it was all up to them to win the game.”
It was a leadership role than Windon grabbed by the horns. Windon received a pass and started dodging his defender — that being two-time pre-season All-American Nick Politarhos. When space was created for Stewart, Windon delivered the pass and Stewart found Sproles in front of the goal, open, standing 12 yards out.
Sproles sent an overhand shot in the direction of the cage, an effort that Widener goalie Bobby Schluter expected to go low.
It went high.
Sproles' shot beat Schluter to the high left, setting off a field-rushing celebration. As Sproles beat his chest, he was mauled by teammates. Messiah had captured its fourth straight regular-season win over the Pride.
“I was extremely proud of our guys in overtime,” Weisenborn said. “They ran everything well and forgot about the what happened earlier. We came into tonight's game acting like it was a playoff game. Widener is a great team and a quality win for us. If we play like we did in overtime and the first 50 minutes, we are a tough team to beat. We just have to cut down on the mental mistakes.”
Messiah will look to keep its home mojo in tact Saturday, when Manhattanville College visits Anderson Field for yet another MAC Conference match-up. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
