Geneva, NY - For the second-straight outing in the NCAA Tournament Messiah College went down early against a Top 10 team. And for the second-straight time, the Falcons rallied to win.

No. 1 Messiah scored three second-half goals to rally from an early 1-0 deficit and beat No. 7 Babson College by a 5-2 score. The victory sent the Falcons into the NCAA Championship Final for the ninth time in program history where they will face No. 3 Tufts University, who defeated No. 2 Salisbury University 1-0 in the other National Semifinal.
 
"I think our team played a great seventy minutes of field hockey," Messiah head coach Brooke Good said after the win. "We were on our heels for a few minutes in the first-half, but we made some terrific adjustments in the second-half to get back to our style. I'm really proud of this team, and their effort showed their determination to see it through to the end."
 
See it through to the end they did– and thankfully so. The Falcons missed some early chances to get on the board and, despite holding early territory, they were put in a hole in the 20th minute. Babson took advantage of their best counter to that point as Staci Swallow was found alone and streaking down the left side of the field. She launched a shot from the edge of the circle that got past Shelby Landes, but Sara Brooks was left for the defensive save; unfortunately, here clearance out the back side and right to Jacki Merrigan for the quick shot on the open cage.
 
The goal was somewhat deflating for the Falcons, especially as they had the better run of play to that point. Things appeared to get worse a few minutes later when Babson appeared to go up 2-0 off a shot in front of the cage. The Beavers jumped in celebration, but the officials came together and overturned the goal due to an infraction on the Babson shooter.
 
That proved to be a turning point in the game as the Falcons soon scored two goals in a 90-second span to take a 2-1 lead. The equalizer came in the 27th minute when Nicole Wilkerson pushed through the midfield and sent a centering pass to Moriah Pfautz. The senior forward punched it through for her 17th goal of the season and just 1:24 later she found her 18th. Off a penalty corner—Messiah's fifth of the game at that point—Wilkerson moved possession to Pfautz on the left side. Her sweeping shot sailed into the cage for a 2-1 lead.
 
"It was a little scary for them to potentially go up 2-0," Pfautz said, commenting on the turn of events in that first-half. "When it got called back, it definitely pumped us up as a team and we just said, 'alright, we got the ball back, let's go up and score one now.'"
 
Messiah's 2-1 lead carried into the final seconds of the frame, but Babson earned a corner of their own as time ran out. The initial play led to another corner, and Ashley Tango took advantage with a rocket from the top of the circle that made it 2-2.
 
"(At the half) we just talked about getting behind the defense and using our speed to put pressure on their players, and maybe even take advantage of a lucky tip if we could find one," Good said, talking about her halftime adjustments. "We just really wanted to send the ball on cage, and to try and generate attack penalty corners. We've learned from past games that if you can generate attack penalty corners over and over, you can physically and mentally exhaust someone. So just keeping possession up in our end was something we really wanted to do."
 
In the second-half Messiah did just as they wanted, as they outshot the Beavers 11-2 in the final frame. Attack corners played a huge role as well, as they went up 3-2 off a corner set in the 45th minute.
 
The ball was inserted to Hannah Roland above the circle, but her centering pass was quickly stopped and returned by defender Lauren Drakeley. Roland corralled the clearance and immediately attacked into the circle for a quick shot pas goalie Deirdre Barry.
 
Roland's tally was the first of her career.
 
"The last time I scored was probably back in middle school," Roland said with a sheepish smile as both Good and Pfautz laughed. "I usually get scared when I see the circle, and I'm just really happy it went in."
 
The go-ahead score shifted momentum once again, and this time it was not returned. The Falcons allowed just a single shot and a single corner to the Beavers the rest of the way as the Messiah defense and midfield dominated the possession. In the 55th minute the Falcons scored an all-important fourth goal, this time off the stick of Taylor Holt as she punched through a loose ball in front of the cage.
 
Holt's tally forced a timeout from the Beavers, but Messiah continued to keep the pressure on and with less than two minutes to play Kristin Donohue found Carissa Gehman in transition for an exclamation point. Gehman's goal was the 28th of her season, with Donohue's picking up her 11th assist.
 
"We put up some goals on a really solid defense, and it was something we thought we could do even though we went down early," Good said. "(Babson) has a terrific defense and team, so whether it was skill or fortune or a mix of both, we'll take it."
 
As mentioned, Messiah will now play tomorrow afternoon in the National Championship at 1:00 p.m. against the Jumbos. Messiah has not faced Tufts since dropping the National Championship to the Jumbos in 2008.