Box Score
By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — Saturday's game between Messiah and FDU-Florham was not a game rooted in revenge or retribution. No, Saturday's game held one theme that prevailed throughout the ebb and flow of Messiah's play.
And that theme was decision making.
Despite a third quarter in which the Falcons were held scoreless while taking only six shots, a strong first half and the ability to close out the game proved to be key, as Messiah remained perfect in MAC play, beating the Devils 11-9 at Anderson Field.
For head coach Geof Weisenborn, sound decision making came even before the start of the game, with the team's preparation to face a team that beat the Falcons twice last season, ending Messiah's run in the MAC Semi-Finals.
“Going into the game, we knew that [FDU-Florham] was a talented team that played very good defense,” Weisenborn said. “This game wasn't about revenge. Yes, they ended our season last year, but that is in the past and this is a new team. Our focus was on this game and not what happened in the past.”
The ability to move on from the past was crucial for Messiah (5-2, 3-0), as FDU's Joseph Yobbi scored for the Devils just 33 seconds into the game. It was not a good start for the Falcons, who had scored first in each of their four consecutive wins this season.
But all was not lost, as Messiah rattled off three straight goals in the first quarter, coming from junior James Baden, senior J.J. Miller and sophomore Kyle Sproles.
The Devils would come back to tie the game in the early seconds of the second period, but again, it was the ability to make quality decisions and precise passes in the attacking third that allowed Messiah to score four unanswered goals.
Sophomore Brian Meenan scored twice and classmate Keven Schellenburg scored his only goal of the game with 6:22 left to play in the second. Baden would add his second of three goals on the day in one of the best possession of the season for Messiah — seen by quality passes, off ball runs and a brilliant pass from Schellenburg to Baden for an wide open shot — just before FDU's Drew Canfield scored with 39 seconds to play in the opening half.
“We executed very well on both the offense and defensive side of the ball in the first half,” Weisenborn said. “We moved the ball quickly and with great accuracy. The guys made off-ball cuts to get open and just overall good decision-making. We were fortunate enough to have a good lead going into the half and we wanted to build off that, but we made bad decisions in the third quarter.”
In turn, Messiah was on the defensive side of the ball for much of the third period. The Falcons' offense was under duress all quarter, taking only six shots in the period — the fewest shots taken in a quarter since the opening period against Ursinus College, where the Falcons had only four attempts.
“We forced the ball,” Weisenborn said. “We rushed a lot of things on offense and made bad timing errors on defense. I tried to give time to some subs to see if they would make better decisions. That's all that you can really do: Give people the opportunity to make the right decisions during the game.”
But much to the benefit of the Falcons, the Devils only scored twice in the period during a four-goal stretch till the first minute of the fourth. With 14 minutes left to play and the game tied at seven goals apiece, both Messiah and FDU-Florham (4-4, 2-2) traded blows for four minutes before Baden could tip the balance in favor of the Falcons.
“We got back to what we wanted to do in the fourth,” Weisenborn noted. “We were patient and dealt with their picks better than we did before.”
Both defenses stood strong for nearly five minutes, until sophomore Heath Kupecky added his first goal of the day to keep the team pushing through. Canfield scored for the Devils off the ensuing faceoff, but Sproles finished the Devils with his third goal of the day with 4:13 to play.
With the win, Messiah holds its longest streak of wins since the 2007 season, where the Falcons rattled off seven W's before being knocked off by Widener University in the Falcons' undefeated conference season.
“I see good things from us, but we aren't playing our best lacrosse,” Weisenborn said. “I still haven't seen our best game, which is good. We are building and developing and there are still a lot of good games and good tests for us in our schedule. DeSales (University) is a good team that we have to be prepared for.”
Messiah will travel to Center Valley, Pa. to face DeSales on Wednesday before welcoming Eastern University of Saturday. Game time for Wednesday's match is set for 4 p.m.
