Owings Mills, MD – Despite controlling possession and maintaining a big advantage in shots throughout the game, it took until the 80th minute for No. 9 Messiah College to score the go-ahead goal and secure the victory over Stevenson University Tuesday night.
Marisa Weaver's goal in the fourth minute put the Falcons ahead early, but a bad bounce on a deep shot from Alexis Siejack knotted the game at one. With a second-consecutive overtime game looming for Messiah, Weaver drilled a loose ball in the box to score her second goal of the game, which put the Falcons on top for good.
The victory ran the Falcons' winning streak to ten, and pushed their record to 12-2 and 5-0 in the MAC Commonwealth. The loss dropped Stevenson to 6-5-2 and 3-1-1 in conference play.
Early in the contest
Sara Yunez sent a goal kick deep that bounced overtop the heads of Weaver and a Mustang defender near midfield. Weaver sprinted past her initial defender and touched the ball past another Mustang defender to get herself in the clear. Weaver raced ahead of the pack and attacked towards the goal, and tucked her shot under the crossbar to give Messiah an early 1-0 advantage.
Even though the Falcons got on the board quickly, Messiah was unable to add to their lead in the remainder of the first-half despite several promising chances. In the 13th minute, Weaver attacked past a Stevenson defender along the left side of the box and ripped a shot that Tiffany McKee got a hand on but could not control.
Sunny Gelnovatch came sprinting in and collected the loose ball. She drilled a shot toward the right post, but the ball was blocked overtop of the crossbar and out of bounds.
Later in the opening period,
Missy Biener sent a corner kick into the center of the box, where
Ellie Lengacher was waiting to put a head on it. She got her head on it, but the Mustang defense was there to back up McKee and clear it to safety.
The Falcons' offense continued to attack, but they were forced to take a 1-0 advantage into the break.
The second-half appeared to be much of the same for both teams, until the complexion of the game changed in the 58th minute. Siejack received the ball just over midfield, and attacked towards the center of the field. She launched a shot from 35 yards out that appeared to be heading straight for Yunez, however an difficult bounce caused the ball slip past the keeper and even the score.
With the game suddenly tied, Messiah's offense ramped up the pressure in search of that coveted go-ahead goal, but the Mustangs defense appeared to be holding strong.
In the 78th minute, Kayla Deckart was able to play a ball into space along the left side that got Weaver into space. Weaver was able to take the ball and place a cross into the center of the box, where
Erin Sollenberger cut in front of her defender. She appeared to have a clear shot on goal, however the ball came up on her too quick and she was unable to capitalize.
Two minutes later, Messiah finally broke through and took the lead. Sollenberger possessed the ball deep in Mustang territory along the right sideline and sent a cross into the box.
Olivia Snare and McKee each jumped towards the ball, but McKee was able to reach up and punch the ball away from Snare. However the ball was deflected into the middle of the box, where Weaver was waiting to volley the shot into the empty net and put the Falcons ahead.
Stevenson was able to get one shot off in the final 10 minutes of play to try to equalize, but Yunez made the save and secured the victory. Despite the tight score, the Falcons dominated possession and field throughout. Messiah earned a 22-4 advantage, however McKee's 10 saves helped keep Stevenson close.
As mentioned, the victory is the tenth-straight victory for Messiah after the Falcons began the season 2-2. The victory over Stevenson also knocks them from the list of unbeaten in conference play, leaving Messiah as the only undefeated team.
The Falcons will return to action Saturday when they take on Widener University in another conference matchup. Kickoff is set for 5:00 p.m.
