Grantham, PA – No. 1 Messiah College closed out their regular-season slate with a convincing win on Saturday, 9-0 over Alvernia University. The Falcons scored seven of their goals in the first-half, and Nikki Elsaesser tallied a career-high four times.
 
Messiah went on the board in the third minute when Missy Biener connected with Marisa Weaver on the Falcons' second shot of the game. A few minutes later Elsaesser made it 2-0 with a follow-up strike on a ball deflected off a Crusader defender. 
 
The Falcons' lead was established and bolstered with dominant play. They consistently played in their attacking third, and in the 22nd minute they began to pull away. The third goal came from Elsaessser, this time off a through ball up the middle from Holly Burgard. Less than a minute Kyele Bridel made it 4-0 off feeds from both Elsaesser and DeMonte.
 
Three more goals—one each from Elsaesser, Ally Reinhardt, and Sarah Strachan—made it 7-0 as the teams went into the break.
 
Early in the second-half Elsaesser tallied her fourth goal, this one by way of a brilliant header off a cross from Biener. She became the fourth player in program history to tally at least four times in a game, joining Kelly Gruskos in 2000 (5 goals), Jamie Gasiorowski in 2000 (4), and Corinne Wulf in 2011 (4).
 
Holly Burgard's header shortly after Elsaesser's goal completed the scoring at 9-0. The assist on Burgard's goal was from Elsaesser, giving her 10 points in the game.

The win pushed Messiah to 16-0-2 and they will now prepare for the MAC Commonwealth Semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 5. The Falcons will host as the No. 1 seed against the winner of No. 5-seeded Albright and No. 6-seeded Lebanon Valley.