Box Score
Grantham, PA — In the end, Messiah weathered Wednesday night's storm both literally and figuratively.
The Falcons withstood nearly an hour and a half lightning delay and an early 1-0 deficit to visiting Dickinson College, playing inspired post-thunderstorm soccer to come away with a 2-1 overtime win on a rain-soaked Shoemaker Field. After being dominated in the early stages of the game, Messiah (6-1) effectively flipped the switch, outshooting the Red Devils by a 15-3 difference after halftime and using a golden goal from senior Geoff Pezon to finish the deal 6:19 into the first extra period.
“This was a very good win for us,” said Brad McCarty, Messiah head coach. “I think this has the potential to be a springboard for us to continue to gain confidence. Obviously, it's early, it's still September, but this was an important game for us. It was good to play with depth and good to come from behind.”
McCarty's group was forced to play from a deficit after Dickinson (5-1-1) tallied the game's first score less than seven minutes in, as the Red Devils' Mike Montross blasted a shot from inside the 18-yard box. His shot was deflected by Messiah senior Jon Burke, but the ball popped directly back to Montross' feet.
The Dickinson senior midfielder hammered his ensuing effort to the right corner of the cage, beating sophomore keeper Jake Berry — who was making his first collegiate start.
Dickinson continued to dominate possession until the storm hit just a few minutes later, as Shoemaker was cleared and the game halted for over an hour.
“We actually made our adjustments during the lightning delay, and I sensed Dickinson starting to tire in the last 15 minutes of the half,” McCarty said. “I thought we finished the half strong, moved the ball and were fresh.”
As Messiah began to pick up its pace late in the period, there was no question the team was fortunate to be down by only a 1-0 deficit at the intermission.
Upon restarting the game, it was the Red Devils that kept up their fury, piling on both possession and shots. In the span of 11 seconds in the 24th minute, three different Dickinson players had shots on goal — but all were stopped by Berry. After the Red Devils' Montross ripped another blast on frame, Berry dove and placed himself in the path of the ball, but it deflected back into the field of play. Dickinson's Shepherd Waldenberger rifled a shot that looked to make it a 2-0 affair, but Berry stuck his foot out at the last second, again directing the ball off the end line.
When the Red Devils' dale Rodman looked to finish off the flurry, Berry smothered the shot just before it could cross the goal line, concluding one of the most incredible bang-bang-bang goalkeeper plays in recent Messiah memory.
Berry, who got the starting nod in place of injured senior keeper Kyle Fulks, finished with seven saves on the night.
The amount of experience he gained, however, was enough to fill 10 games.
Just moments following the flurry, Dickinson again pressured the Falcons' back line, maneuvering the ball inside the Messiah 18-yard box. A handball was called on a Falcons' defender, giving the Red Devils a penalty kick with 23:47 elapsed.
Dickinson's Rodman did the honors, but he pulled the shot just wide, skimming the side of the left post and keeping the score 1-0.
McCarty said that, had the shot been on frame, Berry would have stopped it.
“He was all over it,” he said. “He had good reaction and was there. To play your first collegiate minutes against a team like Dickinson ... that's really difficult. In the end, though, he stood the test and played with confidence. I was proud of him.”
As the first half drew to a conclusion, the game slowly became more wide open, with the play of Messiah's midfielders beginning to wear on the Red Devils. The squad closed with several dangerous runs through the center of the visitors' defense, a trend that would magnify after halftime.
Playing with confidence — and what appeared to be fresher legs — it was the Falcons that dominated following the intermission. And, accordingly, it seemed only a matter of time before the hosts tied things up.
Just four minutes into the second half, senior Nick Thompson got free on a breakaway, unleashing a right-footed rocket from 19 yards out that banged off Dickinson goalkeeper Cody Hickok with such force that it traveled all the way to the sideline.
In the 70th minute, that exact scenario repeated itself, as sophomore Dan Squire broke through the Red Devils' back line, ripping another shot that Hickok successfully blocked with a loud thud.
Just three minutes later, however, Messiah was on the board.
Applying continual pressure, junior Trevor Lee carried the ball to the end line on the right side, and slotted a ball back into the Dickinson 18-yard box. Classmate Derek Black was there to run onto it, slamming his effort into the right corner of the netting for his first goal of the season.
“We ask our wingers to get in the box, and Derek had a great finish with his front foot,” McCarty said.
It would be the beginning of the end for Dickinson.
Even though the Falcons were held off the scoreboard through regulation, McCarty said the five-minute break between it and overtime was too long for his group.
“I had trouble controlling the guys,” he said. “Every single one of them had a smile on their face, and wanted to get back on the field. They were ready to go. They wanted more.”
Thanks to Pezon, they got exactly six minutes and 19 seconds worth of extra soccer.
Continuing to create dynamic sequences in the midfield, McCarty's group scored the golden goal on a beautiful sequence: Junior Danny Thompson won a ball on the right sideline and carried it across the midfield stripe, finding Pezon just to his left.
Pezon, who was making a run through the middle of the field, then took a touch past a Red Devils' defender and lifted a left-footed shot over Hickok, who slid out to challenge.
The ball came to rest in the lower right netting, setting off a sliding celebration in front of the Falcons' faithful that had also weathered the storm.
“I think we felt like we wore Dickinson down a bit with our depth, and any time a team is tired and allows us to play with the space that we had, of course we feel confident,” McCarty said. “But you have to give them credit. They came to play, and they were all over us early. They were dynamic and hard to handle. I'm thankful that we were able to withstand that, and focus on playing better soccer for the duration of the game.”
While dramatically entertaining, Wednesday's contest was a moonlight of sorts for the club, as Messiah returns to the road for its next three games — part of an eight-game stretch where the Falcons are home for just one tilt.
Messiah will next travel to the University of Mary Washington on Saturday. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
