GRANTHAM, Pa. – No. 1 Messiah field hockey scored once early and many late in a lopsided 9-0 win over Hood on Wednesday night. Seven different Falcons scored in the win, and Messiah moved to 14-0 overall.
The win for Messiah also pushed them to 5-0 in MAC Commonwealth. Hood fell to 2-13 overall, and 0-5 in the conference.
Get on the Board
Messiah took 27 shots in the first-half, with 15 of those going on frame. But at the end of the first 35 minutes, the Falcons held just a 2-0 lead. The first goal came off the stick of leading scorer
Carissa Gehman, who tallied off a feed from
Kezia Loht in the eighth minute.
Messiah led 1-0 all the way to the final minute of the frame where
Josie Weaver doubled their advantage. The goal was a result of a great extra effort in front of the cage to poke one past keeper Hailey Poisal. The goal was the first of her career.
Second-Half Streak
The Falcons' goal total (2) on 27 first-half shots may have seemed unexpected, but they righted the numbers in the final period with seven goals on 21 more attempts.
Taylor Holt scored back-to-back goals— in just 50 seconds, nonetheless—to make it 4-0 early in the frame, and
Kezia Loht then tallied two-straight goals midway through the half to make it 6-0.
The Messiah onslaught was aided a dominant hold on possession and territory, and also 14 second-half corners. After holding Messiah to a slow start, Hood was unable to slow the Falcons' attack as three more Falcons—
Karalyn Schmidt,
Casie Stief, and
Hannah Palm—tallied in the final 15 minutes to seal the lopsided finish.
In the Box
Messiah's dominant play produced a season-high in points (25), goals (9), assists (7), shots (48), and corners (29). The Falcons also kept an opponent without a shot for both the fourth time this season and second time in as many games (Arcadia).
Poisal finished with 16 saves for Hood.
The win for Messiah also delivered a milestone for head coach
Brooke Good: win No. 100. In her sixth season with Messiah, Good now holds a career mark of 100-24, with Messiah currently on a 36-game win streak.
Up Next
The Falcons will stay home for their next match, a Homecoming Day contest with Widener on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Pride are 10-4 overall and 4-1 in the MAC Commonwealth, with their lone loss in the conference coming this afternoon by a 5-1 score at Alvernia.
