GRANTHAM, Pa. – No. 1 Gettysburg scored the game's first three goals and never looked back as they built a 13-1 lead en route to a 15-3 win over Messiah. The Bullets, who returned a core group of players from last season's National Championship campaign, put 24 shots on goal against a younger Falcons' squad.
 
The loss dropped Messiah to 0-1, while Gettysburg moved to 1-0. The Falcons will next play on Wednesday, Feb. 28 when they host local rival Dickinson College at 4:00 p.m.
 
Locked and Loaded
The Bullets' firepower was on display from the outset, and they scored their first goal after just 1:46 of play. Less than ninety seconds later they scored again, and it was 3-0 less than six minutes to the game. Three different players combined for the early scores, forcing a timeout from the Falcons.
 
Though overmatched in the game, Messiah had moments of strong play, including in the eighth minute when Annika Johnsen put the Falcons on the board off a feed from Courtney Wagner. Johnsen's rip past Bailey Pilder came on the Messiah's second shot of the afternoon.
 
But Gettysburg, who returned seven of their top nine scorers from last year's team that scored over 300 goals, responded with an overwhelming stretch of 10-unanswered goal lasted into the second-half.
 
Late Tallies
Messiah kept battling to the final whistle, and they scored twice in the second-half. Abby Howard tallied her first career goal early in the period, and Eliza Lortie scored the Falcons' third goal in the final minutes.
 
All told, Messiah collected 17 total shots, with nine going on frame.
 
In the Box
The Bullets' defense, which ranked No. 4 in the nation last year with a 4.79 goals against average, caused seven of Messiah's 18 turnovers. Messiah caused five turnovers of their own, and they kept pace with Gettysburg in groundballs by earning just four less (16) then the Bullets (20).
 
Amber Orner started in the cage, and Jessie Lissner also played more than 20 minutes; together the Messiah goalies combined for nine saves.