Box Score
Elizabethtown, PA - Lizzey Keeney scored five goals including a game-winner in overtime to lead No. 14 Messiah over rival Elizabethtown on the road. Keeney added two assists while
Taylor Phillips collected eight saves in the cage.
The Falcons stormed ahead after a 4-4 halftime tie to take a 7-4 lead in the second-half, only to see Elizabethtown's Becky Porter tie the game at 8-8 with 24 seconds remaining.
Keeney's deciding goal came off a feed from
Molly Devilbiss with just 0.7 seconds left in the first half of the six-minute extra session. In the final three minutes, Messiah's possession game held off the Blue Jays' final attempts to force more action.
With the win, Messiah moves to 7-5 on the season and 4-0 in the Commonwealth. Etown falls to 6-6 and an even 2-2 in the conference.
Messiah and Etown battled back-and-forth for most of the afternoon, even trading a pair of goals to open the game. The Blue Jays eventually took a 4-3 lead at the 5:33 mark of the first-half, but Messiah's
Carly Bajus responded with a game-tying score just thirteen seconds later.
After entering the half tied 4-4, Messiah jumped ahead 7-4 by way of two goals from Keeney and a score from
Gabrielle Hamelryck. Hamelryck also assisted on Keeney's second goal in that stretch for her third assist of the game and ninth helper in the past two contests.
Messiah would soon carry an 8-5 lead to under the eight-minute mark of the game only to see Etown score three-straight times to tie the score. Leigh Flounlacker scored twice in less than a minute to draw the Blue Jays to within 8-7, and would finish with four of the host's eight goals.
Trailing 8-7, Elizabethtown got the equalizer from Becky Porter with just twenty-four seconds left in the game. The momentous goal sent the teams into overtime where Keeney scored her fifth and final goal of the game to send the Falcons to the win.
Keeney's goal came with less than a second left in the first portion of the overtime period. The assist by Devilbiss was her third helper of the season and Messiah's seventh assist on nine goals in the win.
Taylor Phillips collected eight saves as Etown launched 27 total shots. Three of those saves came on free position shots by Etown as they went just 1-6 on such attempts.
The Falcons took just 21 shots, with seven being saved by Blue Jays goalie Rachael Waldman. Messiah forced 19 turnovers from Etown, including three giveaways in the overtime session. Phillips,
Maddie Comfort, and
Marybeth Bindel each caused two turnovers.
The Falcons will travel to Stevenson University on Wednesday to take on the Mustangs in a match-up of the only two remaining undefeated Commonwealth teams.
