Box Score
Grantham, PA – The Messiah College Falcons (8-3, 3-0) scored three goals in each half Saturday afternoon in front of their home crowd to cruise to a 6-0 win over the visiting Stevenson University Mustangs (6-8. 2-2). In all, five Falcons scored in the contest including two from senior
Emily Hursh, who collected five points to lead the Falcons in scoring.
Senior
Emily Bower scored her first career goal in the 45th minute of play for the Falcons. Prior to Saturday's game, Bower had tallied just four assists in her 36 previous games played before finding the back of the Stevenson net early in the second half.
Brooke Sands,
Celina Nissley, and
Becky Ely each added tallies to round out the goal scorers for the Falcons' offense.
Messiah held an astounding advantage over Stevenson in shots (30-4), needing
Molly Gebrosky to make just two saves to keep the visitors off the board. Katie Cavanaugh, the Stevenson goalkeeper, made 12 saves in the game for the Mustangs.
For the Falcons, the offensive outbreak was its largest since they scored seven goals in the Commonwealth Championship game last November.
“We really worked on getting free in practice this week and making the most of those opportunities,” head coach
Brooke Good said of the how the Falcons managed to score six goals for the first time this season. “We also made some personnel changes on the field- which if we get this kind of production from it that would be great.”
The Falcons started the barrage of goals just over 11 minutes into the contest. Junior
Brooke Sands dribbled in from the left corner and made some shifty moves to avoid the endline and a defender before sending a shot between Cavanaugh's pads for a 1-0 lead early.
Hursh tallied her first goal on the afternoon in the 21st minute of play to double the Falcons lead to two. After continued play in the offensive zone, Hursh gathered the ball in some 'free space' and managed a few good strikes that popped the ball passed the goalie and in.
Hursh's day on the scoresheet was far from over.
Just three minutes later, Hursh caused an offensive zone turnover for the Falcons and fed
Celina Nissley in front of the Stevenson net for a quick turn and score from the second-year player. The goal was Nissley's third on the season.
Even with a 3-0 lead at halftime intermission the Falcons' offense would keep the pressure on the Mustangs' defense. The sustained pressure throughout the second half yeilded 15 more shots and three more goals for the Falcons. In addition to Hursh's second goal just 1:33 into the second stanza, Bower and Ely added tallies late expand the lead to six goals.
On a quick drive from the Mustang offense, the Falcons staved off Stevenson's best chance of the day, which came on a hard shot from just inside the circle that deflected toward the upper right corner of the net. Gebrosky managed to make a leaping save to keep the visitors off the board, preserving her fifth shutout of the season.
The Falcons will continue with the second of four straight Commonwealth matches on Wednesday, October 10 against visiting Albright College. Last season the Falcons defeated the Lions, 4-0, behind two goals each from current seniors
Emily Hursh and
Kelly Martin.
Fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com for live video and stats for Wednesday's game. The opening whistle is slated for 4 p.m.
