Watch Messiah's Goals Here:
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2-0 |
3-0 |
4-0
Buffalo, NY – Messiah College scored three goals in the first 25 minutes and held College of Staten Island to just a single shot in a 4-0 shutout in the NCAA First Round on Saturday. With the win No. 5-ranked Messiah moves into the Second Round on Sunday and will play Montclair State University who took a 1-1 (2OT, PK) decision over host Buffalo State in today's second game.
Missy Biener put through the Falcons' first goal in just the seventh minute thanks, in part, to a miscue by the Dolphins' back line. A loose ball was run down by Staten Island in their box, but an attempted clear through the middle of the field was picked off by Biener and she touched quickly forward and fired from the top of the box. The shot went across the ground and just out of reach of keeper Nicole Mignone near the left post.
The goal was just the second of the season for the Messiah midfielder, and it was a sign of things to come early on as they soon scored twice more. The second goal came in the 21st minute when
Erin Sollenberger sent a cross from the right corner to far post.
Kate Shults ran in from the weak side and headed through to double the lead. Like, Biener before her, it was her second goal of the season.
Just four minutes later Messiah went up 3-0, and this time Sollenberger did the scoring. She took a short pass of a corner set and turned across the left corner of the 18-yard line. With space in front Sollenberger curled a shot inside the back post, and Messiah was firmly in control.
Messiah took that 3-0 lead into the break thanks to dominance in every aspect. That edge continued in the second-half, and they added a fourth goal in the 74th minute.
Lilly Shover collected the assist thanks to a perfect corner serve, and
Lydia Eichorn headed it through from the middle of the box.
At the end Messiah finished with a 32-1 advantage in shots and 14-0 advantage in corners.
As mentioned, Messiah will now play Montclair State in the Second Round game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. This will be the second-straight year the Falcons and Red Hawks will match up in the Second Round; Messiah defeated Montclair State 3-0 in last year's NCAA match.
