Grantham, PA - Falcons make the most of their chances and defeated the No. 6 Franklin and Marshall Diplomats 3-1 in front of their home fans. The Falcons took a 1-0 lead into half time before scoring two more goals after the break against the Diplomats' one.
 
The Diplomats dominated possession and territory throughout the entire contest, but the Falcons made the most of their limited chances. Twenty-four minutes into the game, the Falcons had a chance against the run of play. Kezia Loht carried the ball across the midfield line before finding Moriah Pfautz in the middle of the field. Pfautz led Carissa Gehman with a pass to the right side. After a couple of touches, Gehman ripped a shot from the right side that beat the keeper and gave Messiah a 1-0 lead.
 
Over the final 12 minutes of the half, the Diplomats had a number of chances to even the score. Their best opportunity may have been off the lone penalty corner of the half with five minutes remaining in the half. The Falcons turned the corner away and the Messiah lead remained at one.
 
After the break the Diplomats had two dangerous opportunities in the half's first few minutes. It looked as if Lauren Eastman had beaten Falcons' keeper Shelby Landes, but a defensive save kept the Diplomats off the board.
 
At the 40:40 mark, Shelby Landes turned away a shot from Sydney Cole and two Diplomat penalty corners resulted in no shots.
 
A little over 10 minutes into the second-half, the Falcons had their first real chance when Messiah earned a penalty corner. Taylor Holt started the play passing to Gehman at the top of the circle, Gehman ripped it to the left side of the goal and Emily Rubright got a stick on it to deflect the ball past the Diplomats' goalie. The goal was Rubright's third of the season and gave Messiah a 2-0 lead.
 
The Diplomats would pull to within one when Sarah Powell found Sydney Cole on the right side. Cole connected, cutting Messiah's lead to 2-1.
 
Messiah would again capitalize off a penalty corner to add an insurance goal. Kristin Donohue started the play with a pass to Nicole Wilkerson at the top of the circle. Wilkerson gave a quick pass off to Pfautz on the left side of the circle, who riffled a shot into the back of the cage to give Messiah a 3-1 lead.
 
The Diplomats threated with two shots in the final nine minutes, but Shelby Landes turned both shots away and Messiah held on for the 3-1 victory.
 
In total the Falcons fired seven shots, with three of them finding the back of the cage. Moriah Pfautz (three shots) was the lone Falcons with more than one shot.
 
The win was Messiah's first victory over an opponent ranked in the top 20 in the country. They were 0-4 against ranked opponents entering tonight's game.
 
The Falcons improved to 3-4 on the season and are a perfect 3-0 on Anderson Field this season.
 
The falcons will next take the field on Saturday, when the Alvernia Crusaders travel to Anderson Field in a rematch of last year's MAC Commonwealth championship game that the won, 3-0. Game time set for 1:00 p.m.