Grantham, PA – No. 1 Messiah College men's soccer scored twice in the first 12 minutes and added a goal late en route to a 3-0 win over Widener University. The win pushed Messiah to 11-0 on the season including 1-0 in the Commonwealth.
 
The Falcons got on the board in the 11th minute after Mike Kovach was clipped from behind after taking possession inside the top of the penalty box. Brian Ramirez stepped for the penalty kick and put it through for the 1-0 lead.
 
Just 62 seconds later the Falcons doubled their early advantage, with Kovach again in the mix. The senior led a three-on-two attack and touched ahead to Jeremy Payne. Payne slotted quickly back to Kovach who ripped it across the frame inside left post for his fifth goal of the season.
 
The early tallies for Messiah spoiled Widener's play for the upset; last season the Pride held Messiah scoreless for 79 minutes before the Falcons exploded for three goals; in 2012 Messiah won 1-0 in overtime over the Pride.
 
Nevertheless, Widener battled to earn three shots in the first-half, though neither went on frame. In the second-half the Pride put two shots on frame, with each Brandon West and Aaron Hennigan grabbing a save.
 
Widener constructed a few other dangerous attacks in the second-half, but Messiah was in control. They hit the crossbar twice in the opening minutes of the frame, and took another 11 shots overall.
 
Zeb Cross completed the scoring in 77th minute with his first career goal, a sudden strike that caught keeper Dave Sousa off his line. Cross' shot came off a seemingly-harmless takeaway 30 yards out. He touched forward into space and lofted a left-footed shot into the top of goal.
 
Widener fell to 7-2-1 with the loss.
 
The Falcons will next play on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7:00 p.m. when they will welcome Lycoming College to Shoemaker Field.