GRANTHAM, Pa. – No. 1 Messiah field hockey scored twice in the first-half, and those two goals would hold as they defeated Alvernia University 2-1 to claim their 11th-straight MAC Commonwealth Championship and 16th overall. Messiah advances to their 17th-straight NCAA Tournament, and will look to defend their 2016 National Championship.
 
With the win, the Falcons improve to 19-0 on the season. Messiah outshot Alvernia 29-3 in the contest, putting 12 shots on goal, but the Golden Wolves recorded 10 saves to hold Messiah's offense to just the pair of goals.
 
Slow to Start
It took Messiah more time than usual to get their first shot off of the game, coming in the seventh minute as Carissa Gehman fired back to back attempts that were both saved by Alvernia goalie Emma Beamesderfer. The first came off a penalty corner stick-stop, and the second a running blast from the right side that Beamesderfer knocked out of the air and out of bounds.
 
Back-to-Back
In the 20th minute, Gehman had two more shots saved by Beamesderfer, but the rebound on the second attempt fell right to the stick of Kezia Loht on the left side. She fired a low roller just past Beamesderfer's leg and inside the left post for the opening goal.
 
Just under two minutes later, the Falcons had another great opportunity as Gehman picked up a loose ball at the top of the circle. She got around one defender, and fired a shot through a second defender's legs and into the cage to put Messiah up 2-0. The goal was Gehman's 28th of the season, equaling her previous season-high set last year as well as tying for third-most in a season in program history.
 
Alvernia Threatens
With just over 20 minutes to play in regulation, Alvernia got a dangerous chance as they earned back-to-back penalty corners. The second one was quickly stolen by Loht, who sent a pass ahead to Kristin Donohue that started a four-on-one break for Messiah. However, the one defender managed to knock away her first pass attempt and then earn a foul on Messiah to end the threat.
 
In the 52nd minute, Alvernia defender Madison Potthoff made an incredible defensive save to keep the game close, stopping one of Gehman's game-high 16 shots.
 
The Golden Wolves managed to again reverse field on the Falcons and get the ball deep into Messiah territory, earning a penalty corner at the 56:32 mark. Andrea Wysocki sent the ball in to Erica Groves for a shot from the left side that Shelby Landes covered with her foot, resulting in a penalty stroke. Taylor Dorrin stepped up to take it for Alvernia and sent the ball low and hard towards the near post. Landes made a wonderful diving effort to save the penalty, just tipping the ball off her stick, but it still managed to hit the side of the post and ricochet into the cage to cut the Falcon lead in half.
 
Falcons Lock Down
With it down to a one-score game, Messiah's defense turned it up a notch and held Alvernia without a shot over the last 13 minutes of the contest. Over that stretch, play was on the Messiah attacking end for the majority of the time, as the Falcons got off six shots, including one from Casie Stief that clanged off the near post and away from the cage.
 
Next Up
With the conference title locked up and carrying the No. 1 ranking in the country, Messiah now awaits their placement in the NCAA Tournament. The brackets are set to be released Sunday night at 11:30 PM ET with a press release on the NCAA website. Check back on GoMessiah.com over the next few days for tournament information and a full preview.