Grantham, PA - Carissa Gehman tallied twice in the first-half and the No. 3 Messiah College field hockey team held off a late surge by No. 8 The College of New Jersey to take a 4-2 win on Saturday afternoon. Moriah Pfautz and Lindsay Bower each contributed a goal in the second-half to propel the Falcons to victory.
 
The Falcons' win avenged two defeats last season at the hands of TCNJ, including an NCAA quarterfinal loss by the same score as today's contest.
 
Messiah runs their win streak to five and remains unbeaten against Division III opponents, with a 5-1 overall record. By taking the loss TCNJ falls to 3-2.
 
The Falcons held an 11-9 advantage on shots and 9-7 on goal. Shelby Landes recorded five saves for Messiah and Kelly Schlupp knocked away four Falcon attempts for TCNJ. The Lions gained more penalty corners, nine to Messiah's five, all of which came in the second-half for the opposing team.
 
Just five minutes into the game, Gehman weaved through multiple defenders and snuck a shot past the Schlupp's left side to give the Falcons a quick lead.  She wasted no time in scoring her second goal of the afternoon, as just four minutes later Taylor Holt sent the ball across the circle to a waiting Gehman, who was there to blast it by the left post. Gehman now has a conference-leading nine goals on the season.
 
The ball stayed on Messiah's offensive end for much of the rest of the first-half, but the Falcons were unable to find the cage and went into the break with a 2-0 lead. Messiah's defense held TCNJ to just one shot in the opening period, while the offense registered nine shots and gained four penalty corners.
 
The second-half began much the same way as the first-half, as the Falcons scored just 100 seconds into the period. Gehman brought the ball up the right side and centered it to Pfautz, who fought off a defender to knock it into the cage. It was Pfautz's second goal of the season and Gehman's first assist.
 
With ten minutes remaining, Nicole Wilkerson found Bower at the top of the circle, who spun around a defender and scored to give Messiah a 4-0 lead. TCNJ would then attempt a comeback, as Lexi Smith scored twice in the final eight minutes, both off of penalty corners. However, it was too little, too late for the Lions, and Messiah held on to the 4-2 victory.
 
Pfautz and Gehman each registered three shots in the contest (all on goal) to go with their goals.
 
Messiah looks to keep their momentum going and take down another NFHCA top-10 foe when they travel to Lancaster, Pa. to take on No. 5 Franklin & Marshall College on Wednesday for a 5:00 p.m. start.