XML Box Score Grantham, PA - Messiah College scored three times in the first-half to pull away from Lebanon Valley College as they won 4-1 on a foggy night on Shoemaker Field.
Brian Ramirez,
Jeremy Payne, and
Bryant Myer each tallied before the break and, after the Dutchmen cut their deficit to 3-1,
Jack Thompson added a goal late.
Messiah, ranked No. 4 and No. 3 most the recent
NSCAA Top 25 and
D3Soccer.com Top 25 polls, respectively move to 10-1 with the win. Lebanon Valley falls to 6-3-2.
Brian Ramirez started things off in just the sixth minute after keeping possession just above the 18-yard line and touching left past a defender. His quick shot froze James Clements and went to the left side of goal for his second goal of the season.
Messiah waited nearly 20 more minutes before increasing their lead, but they did so quickly with goals from Payne and Myer in a span of just 2:27. Payne's sixth goal of the season came off a sharp cross from the left end line by
Jack Thompson. The cross went through the Dutchmen defense and beyond the reach of
Joshua Wood before Payne crashed in for the score.
Minutes later,
Bryant Myer attacked through the midfield and managed to avoid a tackle before splitting two more Lebanon Valley defenders on his push into the right side of the box. Clements came off his line to the corner of the six-yard line and managed to get a piece of Myer's shot before seeing the ball bound its way into the goal.
The scoring barrage was result of 26 total shots by the Falcons on the night, their second-most attempts on the season behind 36 shots at Gettysburg in early September.
Messiah's 3-0 lead held up until the 54th minute when Cam Alexander earned back a score for the visitors. His play started from the midfield line where he avoided a tackle and spun around another defender to push unguarded to 25 yards out. There he fired a perfect shot past the dive of
Brandon West and inside the right post.
Leading now by just two goals, the Falcons continued to create a number of chances to score. With less than five minutes to play Messiah collected three shots from less than 10 yards but saw the attempts by Thompson (blocked), Wood (blocked), and Kovach (wide) come up empty.
However, moments later those same three Falcons did combine to put in another goal. Kovach's throw-in led Wood to the right end line where he turned past his defender and dropped a feed back to Thompson crashing through the middle for the goal.
The final score matched last year's 4-1 win for Messiah over Lebanon Valley in the regular-season, though the teams did meet again in the Commonwealth Championship where the Falcons won 1-0.
The win moves Messiah to 1-0 in the Commonwealth while Lebanon Valley falls to 0-1.
Messiah will next play on Tuesday, Oct. 8 when they travel to Hood College.
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