Reading, PA – No. 1 Messiah College broke a scoreless draw early in the second-half and ran away with a 4-0 win at Albright College on Saturday night. The win pushed the Falcons to 14-0-2, including 6-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.
 
The Falcons dominated the Lions from start to finish, with the all-important first score finally getting through a packed-in defense in the 49th minute. Marisa Weaver did the honors with her 12th goal of the season, with Nikki Elsaesser picking up an historic helper in the process. With the assist, Elsaesser became the 52nd player in NCAA Division III women's soccer history to collect 40 goals and 40 assists in a career.
 
The first tally helped the Falcons settle in as it forced Albright to open the field in hopes of finding an equalizer. Messiah took advantage with nine shots and four corners over the next 20 minutes. The last of those shots came off the foot of Elsaesser and gave Mesisah a 2-0 lead.
 
Messiah continued to dominate in the final stretch, and in the last 15 minutes they got goals from both Olivia Snare and Trisha Tshudy. Courtney Wagner picked up an assist on Tshudy's header; it was Tshudy's first tally of the season.
 
The Falcons finished with a 27-0 edge in shots and 12-1 advantage in corners. This was the second-straight game Messiah did not allow a shot to an opponent, and they also collected their 12th-straight shutout.
 
With the milestone assist, Elsaesser is the second-ever Falcon to join the 40-40 club, joining Erin Hench '12. Hench, who is third in career goals (69) and first in career assists (56) for the Falcons, joined the club with an assist on Messiah's first goal of the 2011 season in a 7-0 win over Wittenberg. That goal was scored by Corinne Wulf who, ironically, fell just a single assist shy (57 goals, 39 assists) of the 40-40 club.
 
Hench is the only Falcon in program history with at least 50 goals and 50 assists.
 
The Falcons will next play on Tuesday when they host conference rival Stevenson University at 7:00 p.m.