XML Box Score Reading, PA - Messiah College scored seven times in the first 9:21 of their game with Alvernia on Saturday en route to a 19-14 win over the Crusaders. The win moved them to 6-1 in the Commonwealth, tied with Lebanon Valley and Stevenson atop the standings. By virtue of the conference's tie-breaking procedures, the Falcons will be the No. 1 seed in next week's postseason tournament. They will play on Wednesday against, coincidentally, Alvernia.
In Saturday's win the Falcons got off too a fast start with five different players contributing to a 7-1 lead less than ten minutes into the game. When the dust settled at the half the Falcons were leading 10-3 with seven different players tallying. In suprising—and ironic—fashion, the Falcons' leading scorer,
Lizzy Keeney, did not tally in the first period.
Keeney's impact was still felt, however, as she collected three assists and three draw controls; Messiah took 12 of 13 draw controls in the first half.
Messiah scored four of the first five goals in the second half to go up 14-4 with 23:34 to play.
Candace Knight (five goals) did all she could to lead the Crusaders back, and they scored 10 of the final 15 goals. Still, the Falcons' advantage was too large to overcome.
Keeney,
Carly Bajus, and
Madi Brunk all scored three goals for Messiah, and Keeney added four assists and seven draw controls. Five other Falcons tallied two goals.
Both
Sarah Dolan and Colleen Reilly collected nine saves in their respective goals.
As mentioned, Messiah (10-6, 6-1) will take their now seven-game win streak into the Commonwealth Tournament on Wednesday, Apr. 30.
How the Falcons took the No. 1 seedBecause Messiah, Lebanon Valley, and Stevenson were all tied at 6-1, head-to-head match-ups are the first step in breaking the tie...but the head-to-head resulted in another tie since Messiah beat Stevenson and lost to Lebanon Valley, while Stevenson Lebanon Valley; each of the teams were 1-1 against each other.
The next step is to look at goal differential in the games these three teams played against each other:
Messiah beat Stevenson by six, but lost to Lebanon Valley by three (total of +3)
Lebanon Valley beat Messiah by three but lost to Stevenson by seven. With six being the greatest goal differential allowed,
they finished at -3
Stevenson earned a +6 against Lebanon Valley but their -6 to Messiah put them at 0
So, the seeding goes Messiah (+3), Stevenson (0), and Lebanon Valley (-3); Alvernia was locked at the No. 4 seed.
