Box Score
Grantham, PA — Memo to the remaining four teams who have yet to play Messiah at Anderson Field in the 2011 season:
The Falcons are playing awfully well at home.
Messiah ripped off its fourth straight win on its own turf Wednesday afternoon, handing MAC Conference rival Widener University a 17-0 thumping — the team's second win by shutout this season. Eight different players scored while six scored multiple times, as the squad beat down the Pride early and often.
“I was proud of how the team played today,” said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. “I thought we improved as the game went on. We've been working on the little things in practice since last week, and that's been our focus. We made some mistakes today, but I thought our effort and how we responded to those mistakes was good.”
Coming off the first loss of the season in last week's Spring Fling event in West Palm Beach, Florida — Messiah dropped a last-second, 9-10 decision to William Smith College to narrowly miss out on a championship — Greer's club wasted no time in getting to work on a chilly and rainy Wednesday. Junior Meghan Doolittle took a feed from sophomore Gabrielle Hamerlyck to begin the scoring less than five minutes in, and it set off a five-goal parade: Sophomore Cecilia Kjellman tallied back-to-back goals 14 seconds apart, junior Rachel Dirksen scored her first with 22:06 remaining in the period and senior Kara Geiman added an unassisted marker with 21:07 to go.
Before 10 minutes had elapsed, Widener (3-4, 1-2) was staring at a 5-0 deficit.
It would only get worse.
Messiah (5-1, 2-0) tacked on another five scores before the halftime horn, taking a 10-0 lead into the intermission. Kjellman put away her third score of the afternoon off a feed from Doolittle, while Geiman, Hamerlyck and Doolittle all found the back of the net as well. When freshman Kayla Given put away her first goal of the season with 6:40 remaining in the first half, the Falcons were rolling.
And while Messiah — ranked 16th in the latest IWLCA Top 25 Poll — would score three less goals in the second period, the team's dominance did not falter. Greer's club secured seven of the second-half's eight draw controls and doubled up Widener in total ground balls (18 to nine), keeping the Pride to just a nine for 18 effort on clear attempts.
Dirksen, Doolittle, Geiman, Given and freshman Lizzy Keeney all posted singular scores in the game's final 30 minutes, while junior Rachel Coyle scored twice. Doolittle and Dirksen each finished with two assists, notching five and four points, respectively.
Coyle led Messiah's dominance on the draw, winning seven of the Falcons' 13. Messiah did commit 17 turnovers on the afternoon, just four less than Widener's 21.
“We committed too many unforced turnovers, and that's an area we want to improve,” Greer said. “We're trying to get to a point, where, it doesn't matter who we are playing. We want to play to a standard. We're fighting for consistency and fighting to improve every day.”
Wednesday's shutout win was the third in Greer's four years of tutelage, complementing a 19-0 defeat of Wilkes University Mar. 11 of this year and an 18-0 defeat of the Colonels Apr. 14 of last season. Before that win, Messiah's last shutout was a 19-0 win over Moravian College Apr. 23, 2005.
Messiah will look to keep its strong home play alive Saturday, when the team will host MAC foe Manhattanville College at Anderson Field. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
