Box Score
Annville, PA — Don't look now, but Messiah may be playing its best lacrosse on the precipice of the post-season.
The Falcons rattled off their ninth consecutive victory Thursday afternoon, dealing MAC foe Lebanon Valley College a 19-1 haymaker. It was the program's 10th win in 10 MAC contests and ninth consecutive, beating opponents by an average of 14.5 goals per in those contests.
Thursday was just more of the same, as Messiah — ranked 14th in the latest IWLCA Top 20 Poll — scored seven times in the game's first nine minutes, forcing Lebanon Valley to call a timeout, and Falcons' head coach Heather Greer to call off the dogs.
“We're just trying to stay focused on taking things one ball at a time, one game at a time, one day at a time,” Greer said, in reference to her team's streak of domination. “We have goals and sure, we have a vision of where we'd like to go, but we don't get caught up in that. It's about playing like a championship team every day. We have a standard that we want to play to.”
Messiah (13-1, 10-0) measured up to a standard of excellence from the outset Thursday, as sophomore Cecilia Kjellman scored an unassisted blast less than two minutes in. Senior Kara Geiman followed with a free position score just 31 seconds later, and fed freshman Lizzy Keeney for a goal two and a half minutes after that.
When junior Rachel Coyle scored back-to-back goals at the 23:02 and 22:48 marks, Lebanon Valley (7-6, 6-4) was reeling. Sophomore Gabrielle Hamerlyck knocked home an unassisted score with 22:16 remaining in the first period and Keeney followed with another goal with 20:44 to play, the Dutchmen called a timeout.
It didn't help much.
Even as Messiah played with much more deliberation, the scores kept coming: Singular tallies from freshman Kayla Given, Geiman and junior Meghan Doolittle dotted the final 16 minutes of first-half play, as the Falcons went into the intermission holding a commanding, 10-0 lead.
It wasn't until the opening whistle of the second half that LVC would strike, as the Dutchmen's Hana Krechel won the opening draw control, sprinted down the field and finished a dead-on shot past the ankles of sophomore goalie Taylor Phillips, ruining the chance at Messiah's fourth shutout of the year.
That was the only disappointing aspect of the day's contest from the Messiah perspective, however, as a 9-0 run completed the run of play for the Falcons. Geiman and Doolittle each tacked on two more scores each in that span, while Keeney, Coyle, Kjellman, junior Rachel Dirksen and freshman Samantha Kochey all scored as well.
“We would have liked to get a shutout, of course, but (Krechel) won the draw and made a good run,” Greer said. “Overall, our ride is better than it was last year, but again, that's been a focus for us. We're still in the process of tweaking some things. We think it can be better.”
The room for improvement was small on Thursday, as Greer's club kept Lebanon Valley to just a five of 16 performance in clears, including a three for 10 effort in the first half. Messiah outshot LVC 27-9, winning 15 of the game's 22 draw controls.
Geiman paced the offense with four goals and three assists, while Doolittle, Keeney and Coyle each scored three times. Kjellman finished with two scores. Dirksen finished with a team-leading four draws.
“Ceal (Kjellman) has had a breakout year for us,” Greer said. “She's become an impact player for us. Collectively, I think we've done a better job of staying focused as the year has gone on.”
With just two regular-season games remaining, Messiah stands just a win away from tying the program-record for most consecutive wins at 10 — a standard set in an 18-6 victory over Eastern University last season. The Falcons will sit idle through the weekend before hosting Lycoming College Wednesday night. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
“Hopefully the girls will get some good rest over the Easter weekend and come back ready to go,” Greer said.
