OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Carissa Gehman completed her sixth career hat trick just minutes after halftime, but decided it was not enough as the senior scored twice more, tallying an amazing five times to lead No. 1 Messiah field hockey over Stevenson 5-1.
 
Gehman's five tallies came on 14 total shots, with 12 put on frame. As a team Messiah outshot Stevenson 30-1, with the Mustangs' lone shot resulting in a score late in the second-half.
 
Gehman Will Not Be Denied
In the opening half, Messiah outshot Stevenson 17-0, directing all but two of their attempts on goal. However, the game remained scoreless over the first 18 and a half minutes despite Gehman taking nine of the Falcons' first 13 shots of the game during that stretch.
 
At the 18:59 mark, though, Gehman finally broke through with a backhanded shot past the Mustang keeper to give Messiah an early 1-0 lead. It would not take Gehman nearly as many shots to find the back of the cage a second time, as on her very next attempt just over four minutes later she connected again off an assist from Kristin Donohue.
 
It was a familiar tale just after the half, as this time Donohue slotted the ball in to Gehman at the top of the circle for another backhanded attempt that was deflected but managed to trickle over the goal line to put Messiah up 3-0. The goal was Gehman's 17th of the season and completed her second hat trick of the season and sixth of her career.
 
Mustangs Get One Back
In the 53rd minute, Stevenson managed to take advantage of a Falcon mistake and receive a fast-break opportunity. The Mustang forward tried to slip the ball under Shelby Landes' stick, but Landes managed to turn and and dive behind her to knock the ball away. However, Stevenson would earn a penalty corner, and convert as Tanner Ridgely slammed one home from the top of the circle.
 
History. Made.
Messiah did not take long to put away Stevenson for good, answering the Mustang goal with two of their own within the next eight minutes. Of course, who else would record the scores but Gehman, who became the first Messiah field hockey player in known program history to score five goals in a single game. The mark of four goals in a game has been reached eight different times, most recently last season by Moriah Pfautz '17 against Hood College.
 
With ten points in the game, Gehman also eclipsed Jennifer Terranova '86 for third-place in program history for career points. The senior now has 200 career points, only the third Falcon to ever achieve the tremendous feat.
 
Kristin Donohue also recorded two assists in the Falcon effort, which moved her up to sixth place in the Messiah record books for career assists with 31.
 
Next Up
Messiah keeps their undefeated streak going as they move to 11-0 on the year. They next play on Wednesday in what could be their toughest matchup of the year: going on the road to defending Division II National Championship Shippensburg University. The Falcons hope to avenge their only loss in 2016, which came at the hands of the Raiders in overtime by a score of 1-0.