GRANTHAM, Pa. – In a battle of top-five teams, the No. 2 Messiah field hockey team earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the No. 5 Salisbury Sea Gulls on Saturday afternoon. Messiah scored just over a minute into the match when a centering pass from Kezia Loht found the stick of Hannah Palm and, on just the first shot of the contest, gave Messiah an early 1-0 lead.

The Falcons carried that 1-0 advantage into halftime, despite taking the first 10 shots of the contests and outshooting the Sea Gulls 10-1 in the opening period. Less than 10 minutes into the second-half, Loht fought her way into the circle and drew a penalty stroke, allowing the Falcons a golden opportunity to double their lead.

Megan Wetzel stepped up and knocked through her second penalty stroke of the season giving Messiah the 2-0 lead.

With a two-goal cushion, the Falcons had to hold off a flurry of energy from Salisbury down the stretch. The Sea Gulls and Falcons battled in the midfield for a majority of the second-half and the Falcons prevailed for the 2-0 victory.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-0 on the young season and will next be in action on Wednesday when they travel to Huntingdon to take on the Juniata Eagles.

Big Moment
The opening moments of Saturday afternoon's match were the most impactful of the contest. Just over a minute into the match, Hannah Palm found the back of the cage thanks in large part to a perfect centering pass from Kezia Loht. After carrying the ball down the right side and beating her defender, Loht brought the goalie off her line by driving parallel to the endline. With the goalie just slightly off her line, Loht fedd Palm who was waiting in front of the cage for the pass. Her sweeping shot found the back of the cage and gave Messiah the early 1-0 lead just 68 seconds into the match.

How It Happened
Following the opening goal, the Falcons controlled the majority of play in the first-half, with most traffic taking place in the midfield. Messiah took a total of 10 shots in the first 35 minutes, but none were as impactful as the first of the match off the stick of Palm. Messiah went on to double their lead early in the second-half with the second penalty stroke of the season for Megan Wetzel. Like the first goal, Kezia Loht created the opportunity for the Falcons by pushing her way in to the circle before drawing the foul and setting up the stroke.

With one of the surest shots on the team, Wetzel stepped up and drilled the stroke to give the Falcons a huge 2-0 lead with 25 minutes remaining in the match.

Only four combined shots were recorded over the final 25 minutes, with the majority of play coming in the midfield. Salisbury registering their only shot of the second-half in the 66th minute. and while Messiah did have three shots in the final 20 minutes, one was blocked and two others were turned away by the Sea Gulls' goalie.

Messiah held on for the 2-0 victory and advance to 3-0 on the young season.

What's Up Next
Messiah will now travel to Juniata to take on the Eagles this coming Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. The Eagles are 2-1 this season with wins over a pair of MAC Commonwealth foes (1-0 vs. Alvernia and 3-2 vs. Lebanon Valley). Juniata is coming off a 5-1 loss against the TCNJ Lions on Saturday.