XML Box Score with Phil Naegely, GoMessiah.com reporter

Elizabethtown, PA - Messiah College scored three times in the second-half to overcome a 2-0 deficit against Elizabethtown and win the Commonwealth Championship. Moriah Pfautz scored the Falcons first and third goals, with the game-winner coming in the 64th minute off an assist from Emily Bower.
 
"Credit to the team for digging in and fighting back," commented Coach Good after the thrilling match. "After our first goal, the offense kept plugging away and never gave up."
 
Pfautz took home Most Outstanding Player honors as the win also avenged a regular-season loss to the Blue Jays-- also on Elizabethtown's home field-- and accounted for Messiah's seventh-straight conference crown.
 
At the beginning of the game, however, it looked as though the Blue Jays were poised to end the Falcons' impressive conference streak. They earned a corner at the 8:29 mark and, seconds later, saw a blast from Kaylee Werner put them on top 1-0. The score was eerily similar to the Blue Jays' first goal in the teams' regular-season match-up; two weeks ago Taylor Alwine scored at the 8:35 mark in the 3-1 Elizabethtown win.
 
Off the restart, Messiah tried to get on the board, but Elizabethtown's stingy defense prevented Messiah from any great scoring chances. Later in the half Casey Fletcher cleaned up a deflection from Andrea Keady to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
 
Though some could have assumed the game was decided at the half, Messiah refused to believe the game was over.  
 
"After seeing how the first-half played out, we made some minor changes to our game plan," said Coach Brook Good, thinking back on some of her adjustments.
 
In the second-half Messiah slowly began to assert their attack. Pfautz, the Commonwealth Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, finally put them on the board in the 44th minute as she weaved through a pair of defenders to approach the cage and fired a shot above Marlena Johnson to cut into the deficit.

The goal came not too long after Messiah goalie Molly Gebrosky stopped a Blue Jays' attack in impressive fashion, as she slid out from the cage to turn away the approach. Gebrosky would finish with two saves, but many other deflections and stops, too, that proved significant as the Falcons fought back from the deficit.
 
With the game's momentum shifting, Messiah kept plugging away at the Blue Jays defense. They finally found the equalizer in the 59th minute off the stick of Celina Nissley. She redirected a pass from Becky Ely in the midfield and past the diving Elizabethtown goalie.
 
Less than five minutes later Emily Bower pushed a long pass to Pfautz on a breakaway for the game winner. Pfautz needed to dive for the shot to beat Johnson to the ball, putting through an impressive score to send Messiah to the title.
 
The score would hold up as Messiah raced onto the field to celebrate the thrilling win.
 
The loss for Elizabethtown took effectively end their season if they're not selected as an at-large participant to the NCAA Championships Tournament. Messiah, meanwhile, will advance to their 13th-straight Tournament.
 
The Falcons will learn of their postseason road on Sunday, Nov. 10 when the NCAA releases the field at 10:00 p.m. Fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com for the announcement.


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