Box Score
Madison, NJ — It may have been sloppier than head coach Heather Greer would have liked, but Messiah successfully ran its MAC wining streak to five Saturday, claiming an 18-8 win at FDU-Florham.
Despite committing 18 turnovers while forcing a season-low six, Messiah (8-1, 5-0) avenged an 8-11 loss to the Devils from a year ago, a defeat that ended the Falcons' 2010 season in the MAC Semi-Finals.
“Playing at FDU is always a challenge, and today I felt we were fortunate to get a win,” Greer said. “I thought we were a bit sloppy today, and it wasn't pretty. But we'll gladly take a conference win on the road, especially against a program as good as FDU is.”
It was the host Devils that got on the board first, putting Messiah behind in a conference game for the first time this season. After capturing the game's initial draw control, FDU-Florham's Erika Depelteau scored an unassisted marker just 44 seconds into play, putting a charge into the hosts. Like so many times before, however, Greer's club had an answer.
Actually, the team had multiple answers.
Junior Rachel Dirksen, sophomore Cecilia Kjellman and senior Kara Geiman combined to score the game's next three goals, putting the Falcons ahead by a 3-1 score with 17:55 to go before the half. FDU-Florham's Depelteau scored again just 50 seconds later, but another triad of Messiah goals — Dirksen, Kjellman and senior Megan Bovenzi did the honors — made it a 6-2 game with 8:35 to play.
The Devils' Jennie Jones knocked in a free position shot with 2:51 to go in the first period, making it a 6-3 game at the intermission. The close-knit score came despite of Messiah outshooting FDU by a 16-6 count in the first half, all while winning seven of the first period's 10 draw controls.
“I feel like we played with heart but we weren't on the same page,” Greer said. “We made a lot of mistakes, but again, we did a good job of working hard to make up for those mistakes. We understand we're not going to be perfect, but we want to strive for good decision-making.”
The Falcons' decision making improved in the second half, where the team erupted for 12 goals — including a 6-0 run early in the period that blew the game open. After sophomore Maddie Comfort and FDU-Florham's Lindsey Parent traded goals just five minutes in, Dirksen, Kjellman (twice) and Geiman (twice) all pounded the back of the cage for Messiah, stretching the score to 13-4.
FDU-Florham (5-4, 4-2) was able to tack on four more goals in the game's final 10:37, but Greer's club kept the spread with five more of their own.
On the day, the Falcons outshot the Devils 38-19 and knocked in all five of their free position shots, led by Dirksen's and Geiman's two for two efforts.
“FDU provided us some challenges today,” Greer said. “They had speed, and I thought it was really good for us to go against equal speed. We want to continue to get better. We certainly have room to improve.”
Messiah will remain in MAC play Wednesday, when the team hosts Arcadia University to Anderson Field. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
