Gettysburg, PA - The No. 1 Messiah field hockey team missed several scoring chances, only capitalizing on three of 30 shots (17 on goal), but held on to defeat Gettysburg College by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon. After Messiah took a 3-0 lead, the Bullets scored twice in the final 12 minutes to set up a very stressful finish. However, the defense stepped up and did not allow another shot, preserving the win for the Falcons.
 
To go with the astonishing shot totals, the Falcons were granted 13 penalty corners in the contest. Gettysburg had nine shots (seven on goal) and three penalty corners, the last of which led to their second goal. The Bullets' Haley Mowery was outstanding in goal, recording 14 saves, before she was sidelined in the 59th minute due to an injury. Shelby Landes tallied five saves for the Falcons.
 
Messiah improves to 9-1 on the season, running their winning streak to nine after losing the season opener to Division II Shippensburg. Despite the valiant effort, the Bullets fall to 3-5 on the year.
 
Messiah looked to put the pressure on early as a penalty corner was gained just one minute into the game. In the next fifteen seconds, the Falcons got off four shots, but three were saved by Mowery and the last one rolled just wide of the cage.
 
After ten shots with six on goal, Messiah finally got on the board in the 12th minute. Kristin Donohue brought the ball up the left side and passed to Moriah Pfautz at the top of the circle. A defender blocked Pfautz's first shot, but she was able to quickly collect the rebound, spin, and send a line drive into the top of the cage for her sixth goal of the season.
 
Just six minutes later, the Falcons were knocking on the door again, taking one of their eight first-half penalty corners. Taylor Holt took the corner, sending it to Nicole Wilkerson at the top of the circle. Wilkerson collected the pass and sent it right back to Holt on the left side, where she fired a shot across the goal that hit off the right post but deflected in to give Messiah a 2-0 lead.
 
The Falcons nearly pushed their lead to three in the 26th minute, when Kezia Loht received a pass from a penalty corner and lofted a high-arching shot the just missed sneaking under the crossbar by inches, landing on top of the cage.
 
Messiah held the Gettysburg offense in check for the entire first period, not allowing a single shot. The Falcons tallied 21 in the half (14 on goal).
 
A little over two minutes into the second-half, Messiah picked up right where they left off, as Pfautz took a shot from the top of the circle that was blocked by a defender. The ball was knocked around in front of the cage, and fell to Carissa Gehman, who wasted no time in sending it through for her team-leading 13th goal on the year.
 
Gettysburg made things very interesting late in the game, as Victoria Umbach tallied twice in a span of five minutes to cut the Falcon lead to one with seven and a half minutes remaining.
 
Messiah had another great scoring chance two minutes later, as Loht brought the ball up the right side and centered it to Pfautz. Pfautz redirected the ball towards a seemingly wide-open Holt by the left post, but a defender put forth a great effort, diving and getting a stick in the way to thwart the opportunity.
 
After the Bullets' two goals, the Falcons did not allow another shot and held on to win, 3-2. With the victory, Messiah has now defeated Gettysburg 16 consecutive times, and lead the all-time series by a count of 27-12-5.
 
Pfautz led the offensive attack with one goal on seven shots (four on goal). Holt and Gehman each tallied a score on six shots apiece. Wilkerson had the lone assist for Messiah to go along with two shots. Ten different Falcons recorded a shot on the contest.
 
Messiah looks to build their winning streak to 10 when they travel to Lebanon Valley College on Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. start.