Grantham, PA – No. 1 Messiah field hockey broke the game open in the second-half with four goals and went on to defeat Lebanon Valley by a score of 4-0 to advance to the MAC Commonwealth Final on Saturday. The game was scoreless until the 38th minute, when Carissa Gehman scored her team-leading 21st goal of the season.
 
The victory is the 17th-straight win for the Falcons, who remain undefeated in Division III.
 
Messiah outshot LVC 24-1 (13-1 on goal) in the contest, and gained 10 penalty corners compared to zero for the Dutchmen. Sarah DiMaggio made nine saves for LVC.
 
LVC really packed in the defense for the majority of the game, only using one forward. It worked to their advantage in the first-half, as Messiah was not able to score despite recording 15 shots in the period.
 
The chances were numerous, including back-to-back shots by Lindsay Bower and Nicole Wilkerson in the 20th minute that were both saved by DiMaggio. The best chance may have came in the 25th, when Messiah was fouled inside the box, granting them a penalty stroke. Gehman stepped up to take it, but sailed her shot just over the cage leave the game knotted at zero.
 
It did not take long in the second-half for the Falcons to get on the board, as just three minutes in, Gehman received a pass near midfield from Wilkerson and raced down the right side, beating her defender into the circle. She ripped a shot from 10 yards out that was deflected but snuck through another defender's legs and into the left corner of the cage.
 
Just three minutes later, Kaylor Rosenberry was fouled outside the circle on the right side, and quickly restarted, sending the ball in to Moriah Pfautz. Pfautz passed the ball to herself through the defender's legs and then sent a low roller past DiMaggio's left leg and into the goal to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
 
In the 55th minute, Kristin Donohue sent a ball into the circle that was deflected on goal by Logan Ryan. DiMaggio made another save on the shot, but the ball fell to an open Taylor Holt who knocked it home to bring the Falcon lead to three.
 
It only took two minutes for Messiah to score their final goal of the evening, when Kristin Donohue and Kezia Loht worked the give-and-go to perfection. Donohue stole the ball on the Messiah defensive half and began to race up the right side. A defender came to challenge, and she dished it to her right to Loht, who sent it right back after Donohue jumped around the defender. She took a couple dribbles into the circle and fired a low liner past DiMaggio and into the back of the cage.
 
Messiah did not allow a shot in the second-half, playing stellar defense and keeping the pressure on LVC for the majority of the period to take the 4-0 victory.
 
Gehman led the Falcons with a goal on eight shots, and Pfautz chipped in five shots to go along with her scored. Shayna Landis recorded a brilliant defensive save early to help anchor the Messiah defense.
 
The Falcons will host the MAC Commonwealth Championship game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against 2-seed Alvernia, who defeated 3-seed Arcadia 2-1 earlier today.