Box Score
Grantham, PA - No. 15 Messiah College rallied from a 7-3 deficit in the second-half on Wednesday, tying the score at 7-7 before falling 8-7 to No. 8 Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats Emily Everdell scored on a free-position shot with exactly three minutes remaining to account for the final goal.
Everdell's game-winning score came after more than 14 minutes of scoreless play between the Falcons and Diplomats.
Claire Stikeleather managed a final shot for Messiah less than a minute later, but it was saved by Kelsey Hoffman as F&M stalled to the final horn.
“Three of our four losses this year have ended with us trying to break a stall,” Messiah head coach
Heather Greer said, reflecting on her team's unusual 2-4 record. “That's a season's worth of stalling in just our first few weeks.”
To Greer's point, three of the Falcons' four losses have also come to teams ranked No. 8 or higher: 10-8 to No. 4 Gettysburg, 16-10 to No. 6 College of New Jersey, and today's loss to the Diplomats. Messiah's other loss (11-9) came at the hands of local rival Dickinson.
On Wednesday, the Falcons were done in by turnovers. They gave the ball away 14 times in the first-half, and another 15 times after the break. F&M turned the ball over 22 times themselves, but on more than one occasion benefitted from the Falcons' sloppy play.
“That's an outrageous number,” Greer said, commenting on the Falcons 29 giveaways. “Our fundamentals were not crisp and we were hurting ourselves by either under-throwing or over-throwing each other. We need to be better than we were today.”
After trading goals early to make it a 2-2 game, Messiah fell victim to four unanswered goals by F&M to enter the half trailing 6-2. Messiah managed just three draw controls in the first-half compared to six for F&M.
There were also outshot 13 to four as the Diplomats built their lead.
"We were not getting the draws that we needed in the first-half," Greer said. "They were jumping off the line better than us today-- they had a quicker first step."
Greer's halftime correction and instruction to her team did prove valuable, however, as the Falcons stormed back in the second-half to tie the game at 7-7. Claire Stikleather started the surge for the Falcons with two-straight goals to make it a 7-5 game with 21:23 left to play. The first of her goals came on a free-position setup from
Cecilia Kjellman, with her second score coming on her own free-position shot.
Now within two goals, Messiah tied the game in a 43-second span in the game's 43rd minute. Lizzey Keeney made it a one-goal game off an assist from Stikeleather, with Kjellman then sending home an exciting score off a free-position shot to complete the comeback.
Kjellman and Stikeleather each scored three times, while
Gabrielle Hamelryck collected three assists.
"(F&M) plays a fast-paced game," Greer said. "We have the speed to match that but it took us too long to show it."
Now tied, the teams battled through a scoreless stretch of more than 14 minutes before Everdell scored on a free-position shot with exactly three minutes left to play.
The Falcons' stall in the final moments almost led to an open-net score from the Diplomats' Grace Saliba with 15 seconds to play, but her shot went off the crossbar. Unfortunately, Messiah was unable to corral possession in time to push up the field.
Though Messiah fell to 2-4 with the loss, they did hold the Diplomats (4-1) to just eight goals—well below their season-average of 11.75 goals entering the day.
Taylor Phillips was at the front of that effort with eight saves in the cage.
“Our defense really executed well today,” Greer said. “They made big defensive stops and Taylor made some great saves. I'm proud of how we played on the defensive side of the ball today.”
“But we have to get back to the basics on the offensive side,” Greer added. “We have to set the bar high in practice and expect a high level of effort from each other. That's how we'll get better.”
The Falcons will look to get back into the win column when they host No. 10 York College on Tuesday, Mar. 26. It will be one of two final non-conference games for the Falcons this season, the other being at No. 2 Salisbury on Apr. 5.
The York game is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Messiah's Anderson Field.
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