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Grantham, PA - The Messiah College Falcons (3-0) scored goals on both sides of a lengthy weather delay to down the visiting Rowan University Profs on Anderson Field Saturday, 2-0.
Heather Quirk scored her first career collegiate goal in the 14th minute of the game and
Kelly Martin tallied her second of the season in the 24th minute to give the hosts enough for a victory. Play was suspended with 14:36 remaining in the first half due to passing thunderstorms and lightning in the area.
A stingy Falcon defense allowed just five shots in the contest, shutting out a top-20 opponent for the second game in as many tries.
Saturday's game started much slower than the Falcons have become accustomed to, as the Profs seemed to come out with more fire and quicker sticks.
"I did think that we started a little slow today. On Thursday (against Ursinus), we came out right away and set the tone early," coach
Brooke Good said after the game. Good referred to Thursday's game against Ursnius in which the Falcons scored two goals in the first ten minutes.
With the Profs establishing the tempo of the game early on, the Falcons staved off multiple attack attempts and two penalty corners from the Profs in the first five minutes of the game. The Falcons would respond to the pushes from the Profs, however. A good offensive push by the Falcons would spark a Falcons attack.
After a flurry of chances by junior
Brooke Sands, the Falcons took advantage of a penalty corner. Senior
Juliana Hershey sent a pass to the top of the circle. A little bit of scrappy play from Quirk was rewarded, as her shot found the back of the cage to put the hosts up 1-0.
Play continued at an energized pace, until play was suspended due to lightning.
"I think the rain delay may have actually helped us," Good added. "We talked about coming back out after the delay was over to play like it was a new game and we needed to set the tone."
The Falcons came out with momentum on their side.
Kelly Martin quickly tallied after the break, converting on another penalty corner chance. Again, Hershey sent a pass to the top of the circle, this time finding
Brooke Sands, who flicked a pass to Martin for the score. Messiah scored all it would need, taking a 2-0 lead into the half.
The second half saw chances by both teams including three penalty corners from the Profs. The Falcon defense held strong, clearing everything away from in front of goalkeeper
Molly Gebrosky.
Messiah held a 19 to five shots and 12 to six corners advantage over the visitors.
The Falcons travel to face off against Juniata College on Wednesday, September 12. Gametime is set for 4 p.m.
