XML Box Score Grantham, PA –
Joshua Wood scored in the 37th minute and the Falcons scored three times in the second-half as Messiah punched a ticket to the NCAA Final Four with a 4-1 win over Franklin & Marshall.
Messiah will face Williams College in the National Semifinal after the Ephs defeated Amherst College 1-0 earlier in the day. The Falcons' appearance in the semifinal game, scheduled for Dec. 6 in San Antonio, Texas will be their 13th in the past 14 seasons.
On Saturday, the Falcons withstood early pressure from both the Diplomats and the elements to keep the visitors from registering the game's first shot. After about 10 minutes of play, Messiah settled into their attack and began to control territory. The shots soon followed, with Wood hitting the left post from top of the box in the 17th minute. Thompson and
Mike Kovach both attempted shots from within 20 yards in the next few minutes, and
Jeremy Payne forced a save from TJ White in the 31st minute.
The near misses were a sign of things to come for the Falcons, and they finally broke through off the foot of Wood with less than 10 minutes left before the break.
Danny Rowe started the action by leading
Robby Johnson down right sideline past the Messiah bench. Johnson ran onto the ball and one-touched to Wood inside the box. Wood took the ball with his back to the goal and, in impressive fashion, turned middle before pulling the ball back to evade one defender before pushing to the end line to get by another. Now pushing towards the right post Wood sent a perfect strike to the far side of the goal to beat White.
The goal was Wood's 21st of the season.
Messiah nearly tallied again before the half off a serve from
Jack Thompson, but White made a quick save near the far post on a header by
Danny Brandt.
The Falcons' 1-0 halftime lead came with a 9-2 advantage in shots. In the second-half Messiah would outshoot Franklin & Marshall 11-2, with three more goals the result.
Mike Kovach scored their second goal just 1:56 into the half with a one-on-one opportunity with White on the right side.
Jeremy Payne collected the assist on the play after slipping Kovach behind the defense on his run.
Though the goal gave Messiah a 2-0 lead, the Diplomats almost earned one back just four minutes later when Ben Beaver went down in the box on a sure foul by
Carter Robbins. But that play was the immediate result of a clear foul on Franklin & Marshall in the midfield to gain the possession, leaving one to think the no-call for Beaver was fair.
The teams competed for territory in the midfield for a long stretch after that, and Messiah finally broke the game open in the 66th minute. Payne took a touch from
Brian Ramirez in midfield and flicked off his head to lead himself forward and into the left side of the box. He raced to the ball and went right at White before placing a shot perfectly to the far side of the goal.
The score gave Messiah a commanding lead with less than 25 minutes to play, and they tallied again in the 78th minute to up 4-0.
Jacob Bender did the honors this time by following up a saved, direct kick shot from
Danny Brandt.
Franklin & Marshall did avoid the shutout in the 83rd minute with a header from Chase TenBrooke off a chipped serve from Jared Bomba.
Nevertheless, the result seemed evident after the Falcons built the large lead; the final seconds ran off the clock sending Messiah to Final Four.
The Falcons finished with a 20-4 edge in shots and a 5-3 advantage in corners. White collected six saves for the Diplomats while
Brandon West went unchallenged in goal for Messiah.
Franklin & Marshall head coach Dan Wager—a former captain and standout player for Messiah in the 1990s—and the Diplomats finish their season at 17-4-2.
Messiah (22-1-1) will now prepare for Williams College, a team they've faced three times in the NCAA Tournament (1-1-1), most recently in the 2009 National Semifinals (Messiah 2-1).
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