Box Score
Grantham, PA – After 60 minutes of gritty, back-and-forth battling Messiah (4-6, 2-2) and conference rival Elizabethtown (7-4, 2-3) headed to an extra frame as the teams found themselves locked in a 6-6 tie. The Falcons would end up needing just 21 extra seconds at the start of overtime to find the back of the net and garner the sudden victory.
Brady Marburger forced his faceoff foe Craig Hunsberger into the Blue Jay defensive end with a battle for possession as the Falcons and Blue Jays jockeyed for position in a six-player scrum for the loose ball. A Blue Jays defenseman gained brief possession in the scrum but a hard check from a Falcons' player sent the ball flying high into the air.
Midfielder
Ryan Mayer—giving his best center-fielder impression—collected the ball near midfield and looked toward the E'town goal. Mayer drew a defender, pushed the pass down to teammate
Kevan Schellenberg and cut for the give-and-go. Mayer collected the pass and buried it over the goalie's shoulder.
Pandemonium ensued.
Half the Falcons bench mobbed Mayer on the offensive end, while goalie
Jon Weimer—who provided a stalwart effort in the cage with 17 saves—was overwhelmed by the rest of his ecstatic teammates.
“[Ryan] was an unsung hero for sixty minutes tonight,” head coach Geof Weisenborn said about his sophomore midfielder. “He's the kind of guy whose motor never stops running and it paid off in the end. He deserved that one.”
The final score of 7-6 suggests a game that lacked excitement, but anyone in attendance would beg to differ.
From the opening whistle, the Falcons and Blue Jays amped up the energy. From heavy collisions to rowdy celebrations, the energy level on the field was high, starting with Dillon O'Dell's tally just 1:48 into the contest. An answer from the Falcons'
Andrew Harris with 7:15 left in the first quarter on the man-up opportunity evened the score at one, providing a hint of foreshadowing for things yet to come.
Neither team could find that edge on the scoreboard, as the game's largest lead and final margin of victory would be just one. From a 2-2 halftime score to a 4-3 Messiah lead after three and even a 5-4 lead for the Blue Jays with 13:15 left to play, neither team could pull away.
With the Blue Jays up 5-4 and on a two-goal run the Falcons answered with two goals of their own to flip the tides on the visitors and take a 6-5 lead into the last seven minutes of play.
Will Franken and
Kyle Sproles, in succession, were on the shooting end of each goal.
But as was the case for the entire night, E'town responded. Corey Bouschell netted his second of the contest with just less than four minutes remaining. Following the E'town tally, the remaining four minutes moved at a frantic pace and offered up some of the most intense sequences of the game.
The Falcons gained possession off the faceoff and ate up much of the clock, sending multiple shots just high and wide of the E'town goal. A turnover from
Will Franken, however, allowed the Blue Jays to gain possession for one last-ditch effort with 1:12 remaining.
After moving the ball crisply around the perimeter of the offense, the Blue Jays found some space inside the Falcons defense but defenders
Cody Rogers and
Jake Berry collapsed on the Blue Jay attackman to dislodge the ball. Berry was called for a foul on the play, however, allowing the Blue Jays to regain possession.
A shot from midfielder Tucker Keefer on a quick feed inside found its way to the front of the Falcon net, but Weimer came up huge for the Falcons, collecting the most important save of the night as time expired in regulation.
From there, Mayer ended it.
“It was good for us to get a win like this,” Weisenborn added. “We needed this one to keep pace in the conference.”
The Falcons were led in scoring for a second straight game by
Tyler Goglio, who collected two goals and now sits at 10 goals on the season.
Kevan Schellenberg added and goal and two assists for three points, which included the assist he sent to Mayer in OT. Harris, Sproles, Franken, and Mayer each added one apiece to get to seven.
E'town received two-goal efforts from O'Dell and Bouschell and goalie Chris Wenger stopped seven as he took the loss.
The Falcons will now look to move on in conference play as the 2nd-ranked Stevenson Mustangs visit Grantham for the first-ever conference meeting between the teams on Wednesday, April 17. The opening faceoff is slated for 7 p.m.
MLAX: Mayer Secures OT Win Over Jays Gallery
