Washington, DC – After being ousted by Catholic in the second round of the NCAA tournament less than 10 month ago, the Falcons were looking for a chance at revenge in their season opener against those same Cardinals. Unfortunately for Messiah two first-half goals by No. 8 Catholic proved to be the difference in a season-opening win over No. 13 Messiah. While the Falcons outshot the Cardinals 8-6 in a defensive battle, they could not overcome the early deficit.
 
The Cardinals jump on the board on just their second shot of the evening. On a penalty corner Hayley Wright found Marisa Martinelli who found the back of the cage and gave Catholic a 1-0 lead just 17:26 into the game.
 
The Falcons had an opportunity to tie the game less than a minute later, but Taylor Holt's shot was turned away by Catholic's keeper Analisa Scott and the deficit remained at one.
 
Just over 20 minutes into the game, Wright collected her second assist of the game. She worked the ball in deep for Catholic before crossing in front of Messiah goalie Shelby Landes and giving off to Rachel Day who connected for Catholic's second goal of the game.
 
Over the remaining 15 minutes of the first-half the Falcons had chances to chip into Catholic's two-goal lead. Carissa Gehman had a shot at the 28 minute mark miss the cage wide and a Hannah Roland shot was turned saved just before the half to keep the score 2-0 heading into the break.
 
After the break Messiah outshot the Cardinals 5-1 but Messiah was unable to find the back of the cage. Shots on target in the second-half by Roland, Gehman, and Karalyn Schmidt were saved by the Cardinals. Shelby Landes saved the only shot that Catholic attempted in the half and kept the Cardinals off the board for the final 50 minutes of the game.
 
With the win, Catholic improves to 1-0 on the young season and Messiah falls to 0-1.
 
The Falcons will take the field in their home opener on Saturday when Haverford College travels to Anderson Field. Game Time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5.
 
If you can not make it to Grantham on Saturday be sure to tune into GoMessiah.tv for a live video stream of the contest.