XML Box Score with Phil Naegely, GoMessiah.com reporter

Grantham, PA - Coming off a thrilling 5-0 victory against Alvernia University, Messiah College scored early and often against Eastern University en route to a 7-2 win. The Falcons scored three times in the first-half to take a 3-1 lead before Moriah Pfautz put together an impressive hat-trick in the second-half.
 
Just 2:18 into the game, Caroline Wulf ran past her defender on the left side and guided the ball into the cage. After the goal, Messiah controlled both the game's tempo and possession, which put continual pressure on Eastern's defense. Five minutes later the Falcons doubled their early lead. Wulf's shot was saved by Eastern's goalkeeper, but the ball landed at the stick of Celina Nissley who sent the ball back into the circle where Brooke Sands put the deflection in the cage. Sands' first goal of the game came at the 7:42 mark.
 
Less than 15 minutes later, Nissley found her fourth goal of the season. After her first shot was saved, Nissley collected the rebound and found the back of the cage. With only 20:21 off the clock, Messiah led 3-0 and forced Eastern to take a timeout.
 
Out of the timeout, Eastern started to create scoring opportunities. After having three penalty corner opportunities stopped, Abby Wagner found space and cupped the ball over Molly Gebrosky to bring Eastern within 3-1 at the 4:11 mark of the half.
 
The beginning of the second-half brought more offense from the Falcons. Pfuatz scored her game's first goal only 42 seconds in on a shot from the circle's edge. Just 61 seconds later Pfautz's second goal, another shot from the top of the circle, gave Messiah a stunning 5-1 lead. And, as if that wasn't enough, Pfuatz completed her hat-trick on a penalty corner a few minutes later. This time, Emily Bower's pass found Pfautz who finished in front of the cage.
 
In total, Pfautz's three goals came in a 2:59 time frame that saw the Falcons increase their lead from 3-1 to 6-1. The freshman became the first Falcon to score three goals in a single game since Oct. 16, 2012 when both Emily Bower and Heather Quirk completed hat-tricks in a 10-0 romping at Hood College.
 
Messiah's scoring against Eastern was completed when Sands tipped in Wulf's shot off a penalty corner for her second goal of the night. Eastern added their second goal off a penalty corner when Megan Bolton scored her season's 10th goal.
 
"We dictated the game's tempo early on," said Messiah head coach Brooke Good, touching on the team's all-around great performance. "Moriah and Brooke played well tonight for us, but so did the entire game. From the offense back to the defense, we played our game and didn't allow Eastern to affect the way we prepared to play against them."
 
With the win, Messiah improves to 6-2, while Eastern falls to 5-5. The Falcons return to Commonwealth Conference competition Saturday against Widener. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.


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