GRANTHAM, Pa. - Carissa Gehman recorded her 100th career goal just minutes after halftime to lead No. 1 Messiah field hockey to a 5-0 victory over Albright College in MAC Commonwealth semifinal action on Wednesday night.
 
Falcons Waste No Time
Just like the regular-season matchup between the Falcons and Lions less than a week ago, Messiah got on the board early, breaking through in just the 5th minute off a penalty corner. Taylor Holt sent the ball in to Kristin Donohue for the stick stop at the top of the circle, before Gehman fired a pass over to Kaylor Rosenberry on the right side for the shot and score.
 
Taylor Wiederrecht added her second goal of the season at the 26:03 mark, and Messiah took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
 
Gehman Reaches 100
After scoring her 99th career goal on Oct. 18 in Messiah's win over Hood, Gehman was held scoreless in the last two contests with the milestone tally in reach. Two minutes into the second-half, that elusive score was finally recorded as Gehman blasted in a shot from ten yards out that left Lion goalie Aileen Taylor little chance to stop.
 
With the goal, the senior becomes just the 12th player in NCAA Division III history to reach triple-digit goals. She is also the just the second player in Messiah program history to reach the mark, trailing only assistant coach Danae (Chambers) Hollenbach '06 in the record books, who sits at the top with 111 career goals.
 
Total Domination
Taylor Holt and Megan Wetzel would add scores later in the second period to give Messiah the 5-0 win. It was also a special night for Wetzel, as the goal was the first of the junior's career. The Falcons registered their second-most number of shots on the season with 44, and put 19 of those on goal. On the defensive end, the Falcons held their opponent without a shot for the fifth time this season, picking up their 11th shutout of the year and sixth in the last seven games. Messiah also took 13 penalty corners, compared to none for Albright.
 
Taylor held her own in goal for the Lions, notching a season-high 14 saves. If it wasn't for her, Gehman may have had a couple more scores, as she fired 16 total shots in the game and eight on frame.
 
Next Up
The Falcons improve to 18-0 on the year, and will now host 2-seed Alvernia in the conference championship on Saturday. Earlier this evening, Alvernia knocked off 3-seed Widener 3-1 to advance to the final. In their regular-season meeting, Messiah defeated the Golden Wolves at home 5-0 behind two goals from Taylor Holt.