Grantham, PA – Kayla Deckert headed through a corner kick serve by Marisa Weaver in the 103rd minute to give No. 2 Messiah College a thrilling 1-0 win over No. 10 Misericordia University on Saturday night. The score ended more than 230 scoreless minutes between the two rivals dating back to 2012.
 
"That was certainly a great game," Messiah head coach Scott Frey said. "It lived up to the billing."
 
Deckert's game-winner came on the Falcons' fourth shot in the overtime periods. Her redirection went sharply underneath the reach of Maureen Ciccosanti, setting of a loud ovation from Messiah fans. Seconds earlier, it appeared Ciccosanti came up with the play of the night when she punched a half-volley by Weaver over the crossbar at the last second.
 
The keeper's save prolonged the scoreless battle, a familiar feeling to the teams after they played to a double-overtime draw last season. That game, coupled with the end of their 2012 Final Four match up and their game this evening added up to more the 230 minutes of scoreless play.
 
And, in a dose of irony, it would be defender Deckert to end that streak.
 
"As the game went on, I think we wore on them and started to get chances," Frey said. "We found a good goal at the end."
 
The end of the game is sure to be remembered, but the Cougars will not soon forget the beginning of the game when they had the Falcons on their heels. The visitors even collected five shots in the first-half, three of which needed to be saved by Audra Larson.
 
Two of Laron's saves were especially dramatic, one being a poke over the crossbar on a sharp strike from 15 yards out by Megan Lannigan and the other coming on the goal line on a shot by Erin McGreal.
 
Larson's efforts and those of the Messiah defense kept the Falcons even and gave the hosts an opportunity to adjust at halftime.
 
"In the first-half they had us on our heels and we couldn't out of our end," Frey said. "We knew they were good up front and we were tentative to move our outside backs up the field.
 
"In the second-half, we got our backs involved more and we started to establish possession and rhythm."
 
True to Frey's words, the Falcons started to establish their own attack as the game wore on. They outshot Misericorida 10-3 in the second-half, and 4-0 in the extra periods. They also held a 6-0 advantage in corners from halftime forward.
 
"We had a number of girls really step up," Frey said. "Macaulay (Soto) was all over the field, and Nikki (Elsaesser) played hard every minute. We had a few girls go every minute of the game."
 
Frey specifically praised the work of his back row, including Summerly Merson on the left side.

"She was great tonight, she really defended," Frey said.
 
The work of the entire team set-up their final corner kick of the night, a serve by Weaver that went to the near post where Deckert ran on for the winning tally.
 
The loss was the Cougars first of the season, while Messiah moved to 7-0.
 
The Falcons will next play when they host Dickinson College on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be the third of the Falcons' seven-game homestand.