Grantham, PA - The Falcons of Messiah College downed the Gophers of Goucher College by a 11-6 score in their season opener. Messiah received scores from seven different players while Blake Knobloch and Justin Bradley had outstanding performances with three goals a piece.

The first half of play was evenly contested as Messiah and Goucher headed to halftime notched up at five a piece. Messiah tallied the first goal of the game in quick fashion when Braden Olson picked up the groundball from the opening faceoff and buried a shot in the back of the net.
 
The Gophers quickly responded with an unassisted goal from Pierce Bailey and tied the score at one. The Falcons regained an early lead when Justin Bradley ripped a left handed shot for his first of three goals.
 
Goucher quickly retook the lead with two straight scores from Ruel Ellis and Conner Annunziato. Trailing 3-2, Messiah answered with two straight goals of their own and regained a 4-3 lead. The first score came from Matthew Franken and the second was tallied by Luke Hall.
 
Goucher captured two more goals from Michael Morgan and Owen Demmerly while Blake Knobloch tallied the last goal for Messiah to end the half.
 
The Falcons came out aggressive to start the second half and scored four unanswered goals from Blake Knobloch (2), Chris Ruger, and Justin Bradley for a 9-5 lead. The highlight from the four goal scoring streak was when Chris Ruger executed a check, picked up a groundball, and buried a shot in the back of the cage for a goal.
 
Goucher tightened the score to 9-6 when Michael Morgan tallied a score off a man-up opportunity. The Falcons crushed any hope of a comeback by Goucher by scoring the final two goals of regulation for the 11-6 victory. Trey Hanshew had a crafty goal on the crease and Justin Bradley split another defender for his third and final goal.
 
Messiah improved to 1-0 after the season opening victory and will be back in action when they travel to Gettysburg College and take on the No. 6 Bullets at 1:00 p.m.