Box Score
Cortland, NY - It didn't take coach
Brooke Good long to get her first career collegiate win as a head coach.
The Messiah College Falcons traveled to Cortland, N.Y., Saturday for their season opener, and Good's first game, and are returning home with a 5-1 win. The Falcons, ranked fifth in the national preseason polls, scored three goals in a seven-minute span in the second half to break open a two-goal game and defeat the no. 19 SUNY Cortland Red Dragons.
The Falcons scored at the 51:05, 52:14, and 58:26 marks of the second half to put the game out of reach. Junior
Brooke Sands started the scoring, with her second of the day, just shy of the halfway mark of the second half on a hard, low shot from just outside the top of the circle. Senior
Natalie Ziegler scored just over a minute later as she followed up her own shot, putting the rebound into the back of the cage.
Celina Nissley rounded out the scoring outbreak six minutes later- knocking home a one-timer on a pass from Zeigler.
Ziegler and classmate
Kelly Martin both collected one goal and one assist for the Falcons. Junior goalie
Molly Gebrosky led a strong defensive effort, collecting six saves.
Kelly Martin started the scoring early in the first half, converting on a penalty stroke in the upper left corner of the cage. The penalty stroke was awarded after a Cortland player kept a Messiah shot from scoring with the use of her foot.
Juliana Hershey found Sands who buried a shot from the top of the circle not five minutes later to put the Falcon up 2-0 in just the tenth minute of the game.
On possibly the best scoring chances of the first half for the hosts, Gebrosky staved off a flurry of shots from the Dragons' Sara Woodward, keeping the score 2-0 headed into the half.
"We came early and worked really hard- we really played with a lot of enthusiasm," coach
Brooke Good said of her team's effort, specifically early in the game. "Defensively, I felt that we were really strong throughout, never letting up."
The teams stayed off the scoreboard to open the second half until Sands' goal. The Dragons lone goal came off the stick off sophomore Abby Wentlent in the 61st minute, her first carreer tally.
With the win the Falcons improved to 1-0 on the season. The Dragons are 0-1.
The Falcons can now set their sights on Ursinus College. The Bears
eliminated the Falcons from NCAA playoff contention a year ago. Messiah and Ursinus will square off as the no. 5 and no. six teams in the country, respectively, Thursday, September 6 for the Falcons' home-opener on Anderson Turf. Gametime is set for 7 p.m.
Falcons fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com for game updates with live stats and video.
