GRANTHAM, Pa. – Hannah Palm notched her first career hat trick and Carissa Gehman collected three assists to help No. 1 Messiah field hockey win 4-0 over William Smith on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons allowed just two shots to the Herons all afternoon, as they moved to 17-0 on the season.

William Smith fell to 12-5 with the loss.
 
Sudden Change
Messiah took control of the game from the first whistle, outshooting the Herons 11-01 in the first 25 minutes of play. The Falcons also collected four penalty corners over that stretch, but with less than 10 minutes to go in the period it was still 0-0. Then, in a blink of an eye, a hard centering shot and a perfect redirect put the Falcons up 1-0.
 
The scoreboard-shifting moment came when Messiah made a quick turn in the midfield to push against the run of play. Kaylor Rosenberry attacked unguarded on the right side, and she sent a hard centering pass to the cage where Hannah Palm opened her stick to redirect a shot inside the far post.
 
The goal put the Falcons on top, and it also settled the play. Less than nine minutes later Messiah scored again, this time off the stick of Taylor Holt. Another pass from the right side set up Gehman in front of the cage, and she pushed a pass across to Holt on the left side for the goal. It was Holt's 10th goal of the season, her third-straight year with double-digit scores.
 
Similar Script
The second period played out much like the first—Messiah held territory, filled up the boxscore, and scored their goals late. Hannah Palm connected twice more, the first coming in the 61' when Gehman sent a hard pass from the top of the circle off a corner set. Palm tipped it in on the left post to make it 3-0.
 
Less than three minutes later Gehman and Palm connected again, this time with Gehman's pass from the right side going to Palm in front of the cage. With her back to the goal Palm redirected a shot through her own legs and over the line to complete the scoring.
 
As mentioned, the output was Palm's first career hat trick. For Gehman, the game marked her first career multi-assist performance, and it also marked the 29th time in program history that a player collected three helpers in a contest.
 
In the Box
Messiah allowed just two shots to William Smith, making it 11-straight games that they've relented no more than five attempts to their opponents. Messiah also finished with 10 corners to also give them 11-straight games of double-digit corner attempts.
 
Up Next
The Falcons will now prepare for next week's MAC Commonwealth Tournament, which starts on Wednesday, Nov. 1. Messiah will play as the No. 1 seed and will host No. 4 Albright, who they just battled against for a 2-1 win earlier this week. Game time on Wednesday is set for 7:00 p.m.