Frederick, MD – No. 1 Messiah field hockey scored six times in the each half and cruised to a 12-0 victory over Hood College on Thursday. Eight different Falcons scored in the effort, and 16 players each recorded at least one shot.
 
With their 15th-straight win, Messiah improves to 15-1 on the season and finishes a perfect 7-0 in the conference regular season, having already locked up the No. 1 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament after their win over Alvernia last Saturday. Hood falls to 3-13 overall and 0-7 in the conference.
 
The Falcons recorded an astonishing 56 shots in the game, with 42 going on goal. Blazer keeper Hailey Poisal gave it a valiant effort, notching an incredible 30 saves in the contest. Messiah also took 23 penalty corners in the win.
 
Messiah would get on the board early, as in the sixth minute, Nicole Wilkerson sent a pass into the circle to Moriah Pfautz, who was there for the quick redirection past the goalie and into the cage. It was Pfautz's 13th goal of her senior season, firmly holding down second place on the team.
 
Just after the 16-minute mark, Wilkerson fired a shot that was saved by Poisal, but fell in front of Kristin Donohue, who was ready to knock it in to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead.  Four minutes later, Karalyn Schmidt came up from the back line and scored her first goal of the season to build the lead to three.
 
In the last six minutes before halftime, Sloane Adams also notched her first goal of the season and Logan Ryan added a score off a penalty stroke and another goal two minutes later to give the Falcons a 6-0 lead at the break. Messiah outshot Hood 30-0 (23-0 on goal) in the period and gained 12 penalty corners to the Blazers' none. Poisal stood her ground in goal for Hood, turning away 17 shots in the opening half.
 
Beginning at the 48:25 mark, Carissa Gehman would add more two goals in a span of two minutes. It only took 90 seconds for the next score, coming off the stick of Moriah Pfautz to put the Falcons up 9-0.
 
Messiah would add another three goals with one from Emily Rubright and two from Taylor Holt to win by a final score of 12-0.
 
It was tough to pick a star of the match for the Falcons, as Pfautz, Holt, Gehman, and Ryan all tallied two goals on four, four, eight, and four shots, respectively. Donohue, Lindsay Bower, Wilkerson, Adams, and Loht also each had four shots, with Donohue and Adams finding the back of the cage. Seven different Falcons also had an assist in the win, and Shelby Landes and Megan Bomba each played one half in goal without facing a single shot.
 
Messiah finishes the regular season on Saturday with a tough nonconference matchup against William Smith College. With a victory, they would cap a perfect regular season against Division III opponents, with their only loss coming to DII No. 2 Shippensburg in the season opener. Game time is slated for 12:00 p.m.