GRANTHAM, Pa. - In front of a Homecoming crowd, No. 1 Messiah men's soccer earned a 5-0, shutout victory over the Widener Pride on Saturday evening. Messiah featured five different goal scorers in the victory, including the first career goal for Micah Fitz. Nick West tied the NCAA Division III record for most consecutive matches with a goal thanks to a late tally in the 87th minute. The senior has now scored in 15-straight matches and leads the country with 24 goals on the season.
 
Jonathan Groothoff notched his first goal of the season, Brit Haseltine tallied in the 90th minute to cap off the evening, and Justin Brautigam scored his fifth of the season to account for the Falcons' goals on the night.
 
The Falcons held the Pride to five shots while taking 29 of their own and putting 16 attempts on frame.
 
Quick Start
In the sixth minute, Nick West ran onto a ball in the box and touched a pass to an unmarked Jonathan Groothoff on the right-side of the box. After a controlling touch, Groothoff lined-up his shot and split a pair of Pride defenders that were standing on the goal line for his first score of the 2018 season.
 
Doubling the Lead
That one-goal lead remained until the 33rd minute when Micah Fitz finished the first goal of his career with a left-footed rocket. David Alejos lined a shot off the crossbar from distance on the left-side and his rebound fell to the foot of Fitz a couple steps inside the box from the right. A touch got the ball on his left foot and the junior midfielder unleashed a missile to the upper 90 for a 2-0 lead.
 
Late Flurry
For over 50 minutes, Messiah held the 2-0 advantage, but in a six-minute span at the end of the contest, the Falcons broke open the match with three goals to run away with the 5-0 victory. With West's goal scoring streak in danger, it looked that he had found his moment when he ran onto a centering pass in the 84th minute, but his shot went right to the keeper. The rebound was hit out of the air by Justin Brautigam for his fifth goal of the season.
 
West would find his moment just three minutes later in nearly the exact same situation. Jonathan Groothoff got down to the end line on the right and left a ball for West in the middle of the box and he tucked it inside the left-post for his 15th-straight match with a goal.
 
In the 90th minute, Brit Haseltine ran onto the end of a Jonathan Groothoff cross right at the goalmouth and headed home his fourth goal of the season with just seconds left on the clock.
 
Historic Streak
With his goal in the 87th minute, Nick West tied the all-time NCAA Division III record for consecutive games with at least one goal. West ties Johns Hopkins' Matthew Doran (Sept. 2 – Nov. 1, 2000) and St. Joseph's (LI) Tim Trava (Sept. 14-Nov. 2, 2002) with streaks of 15 matches. He also continues to lead the nation in goals scored with 24 tallies on the year, but Capital's Chew Gordon (23 goals) is hot on his heels after back-to-back hat tricks this week.
 
What's Up Next
With the 5-0 victory, Messiah moves to 14-0-2 on the year and 7-0-0 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons will wrap up the 2018 regular season with a trip to Glenside, Pa. on Tuesday evening for a match with the Arcadia Knights at 7:00 p.m. With their victory tonight, Messiah has wrapped up the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament that begins on Nov. 1.