Box Score
By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — What better way to end an impressive regular season than seniors having impressive performances under the lights of Anderson Field?
Yep, no better way.
Nearly 150 family, friends and alumni came out to honor seven seniors in their last regular season home match as Falcons, and those seven seniors delivered with sound performances. And on this night, Messiah proved to be no match against King's College, dethroning the Monarchs, 13-3.
“We learned early on that Lycoming (College) had lost to FDU(-Florham),” senior J.J. Miller said. “So, if we won, we would clinch the second seed (in the conference and earn a bye in the MAC Tournament). (King's) had played some close games with other conference teams. The score doesn't demonstrate how physical this game was, but we wanted the bye and that motivated us to play our best.”
With a faceoff win by Miller and an ensuing shot with a late pushing penalty opening the game, Messiah (11-4, 9-2) truly was going to be in a physical battle against King's all night, as the Falcons would eventually find themselves on 11 man-up possessions.
Senior Eric Petters took advantage, as on the second man-up opportunity, the senior received possession at the top of the box, loaded his shot and swung for glory, finding the back of the cage for his seventh goal of the season.
King's Kieran McMahon would capitalize on a man-up possession at the 2:47 mark, tying the game, but Messiah would not bow down to the pressure.
In fact, Petters would start the Falcons' first run of the day with 37 seconds left to play in the first period, finding his second goal of the night, setting off five unanswered goals for the Falcons over the next 15 minutes.
Senior Pete Owens and sophomore Zac Smith each scored two goals in the five-goal span.
The Monarchs would add a goal with 55 seconds left in the half, but Messiah was in control with the pedal to the floor. The half saw 29 first half shots for the Falcons — 14 of them on goal. And unlike its inability to clear against Lycoming earlier this week, Messiah completed eight of 10 transition opportunities in the half and 20 of 22 on the day.
When King's (6-10, 4-7) did have possession, the defense — backed by seniors Rod Yates and Zach Cureton — held strong, forcing 27 turnovers on the night and stopping 10 of 13 shots on goal.
The second half was dominated by Messiah and a seven-goal run for the home team. Miller and sophomore Kyle Sproles each had two — each of Miller's coming with his signature power and with great authority. Miller is second on the team with goals with 24, all from the midfield.
And although he was absent from the scoreboard, senior Phil Wendt juked and dodged his way into notoriety — shaking multiple defenders to the ground and drawing multiple flags due to frustration — while classmate Grant Leighty came off the bench to support the midfield in transition, helping the Falcons go a perfect 12-12 in clear opportunities in the second half.
With the win, Messiah's seniors now post a 38-25 cumulative record, with a 28-11 mark in MAC play. Miller will end his career as arguably the best midfielder in Messiah history, already holding program records with 552 groundballs and 650 faceoff wins — already 141 and 158 more than '06 grad Tosh Tryon. Currently, the team is two wins away from tying the program's most wins in a season (13, 2004) and already holds the program record for most consecutive wins with nine.
“I just think to have the kind of year we are having is awesome,” Miller said. “To have set the record for most consecutive wins was huge. And we are all best friends. We have such a close class that makes things different even with other programs. It is a different level of brotherhood here than other programs because of the nature of who we are. We all have been together through a lot and that brings us closer. We all feed off each other playing for one another and it has been a great experience.”
With the win, Messiah secured the number two spot in the conference's final standings, as Lycoming lost to visiting FDU-Florham by a score of 5-6 Saturday afternoon, breaking a three-way tie with Eastern University and Messiah. The result is a First Round bye in the upcoming MAC Tournament, pitting Messiah one game closer to the MAC Championship without having to suit up.
“I want to be known as a guy that helped win the MAC for the program,” Miller continued. “We haven't won since '04 and we have had some great teams since then. If I was able to help bring that championship back, that would mean the world to us as a senior class.”
Thanks to Saturday's win and Lycoming's loss, Messiah will next host one of two MAC Semi-Finals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. — while FDU-Florham and Lyco will play a rematch on Monday in Madison, New Jersey. Eastern will host Elizabethtown College in the other First Round match-up. Messiah will face the highest remaining seed Wednesday, while top-seeded Widener University will host the lowest remaining seed.
“We've worked out butts off, everyone single one of us,” Miller added. “If we could win the MAC and win at least a game in the NCAA tournament, our careers would have been a great success. Going out on such a strong note, not all players get to do that. Messiah has never won an NCAA game and we want to be the team that gets to do that.”
