GRANTHAM, Pa. - The top-seeded Messiah women's soccer team kicks off the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Thursday night when they host the fourth-seeded Albright Lions on Shoemaker Field. The Falcons finished the regular season with an overall record of 16-1-1 and winners of 13 of their last 14 matches to end the season.
Albright enters Wednesday's semifinals after a 3-0 victory over the Hood Blazers on Tuesday night in the MAC Commonwealth play-in game.
The second-seeded Arcadia Knights will host the third-seeded Stevenson Mustangs in the other semifinal on Thursday night with the winners of the semifinals meeting on Saturday in the Conference Championship.
The Falcons are making their 22nd appearance in the Conference Championship Tournament and have advanced to the last 19 Championship Games, winning 16 titles.
See below for a quick preview of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament field:
No. 1 Messiah College Falcons - 16-1-1, 7-0-1
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Stats
How we got here:
The Falcons have been a top-ranked team in the country all season long and after a 16-1-1 overall record in the regular season enter the postseason as the No. 1 team in the country. Like their national ranking, Messiah is also the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth Touranment with a 7-0-1 conference record. The Falcons have been getting better as the year's moved along. In their last 14 games, Messiah's scored at least three goals in 11 contests, including seven with at least five scores.
The offense has been prolific this season, scoring the 12th most goals per game in the nation, averaging 3.61 per contest. While the offense has been strong, the defense has been better. The Falcons are allowing 0.329 goals per contest, the eighth lowest mark in the country through the regular season.
Players to watch:
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Brooke Firestone - Sr. - Forward - 18 goals, four assists, seven game-winning goals
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Ellie Lengacher - Sr. - Forward - nine goals, 12 assists, two game-winning goals
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Barb Foster - Sr. - Defense - one goal, 18 starts on a defense that's allowing 0.329 GAA
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Lydia Ewing - Jr. - Goalkeeper - 0.323 GAA, 0.904 save percentage, 47 saves
No. 4 Albright College Lions - 12-7-0, 5-3-0
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How they got here:
The Albright Lions are in Thursday's semifinal after a 3-0 victory over the Hood Blazers in the MAC Commonwealth Play-In game on Tuesday. The Lions scored a pair of second-half goals to pull away from Hood. The Lions earned the fourth seed after going 5-3-0 in conference play during the regular season. An up-and-down conference season resulted in a 1-0 loss to Lebanon Valley and a 2-1 victory over Arcadia.
A top-heavy offensive attack features three players with at least seven goals and 15 points. As a team, Albright has outscored their opponents 34-27 despite being outshot 255-233 on the season.
Players to watch:
Lauren Haley - Jr. - nine goals, three assists, four game-winning goals
Autumn Bieber - So. - seven goals, five assists, two game-winning goals
Diza Hasanaj - So. - eight goals, three game-winning goals
Olivia Donkus - So. - Goalkeeper - 1.14 GAA, 0.820 save percentage, 73 saves
When they met:
On Oct. 26, the Falcons traveled to Reading and earned a 2-1 victory over the Lions thanks to a pair of first-half goals from
Shelby Burger and
Claire Brier. Burger scored in the 29th minute before Brier converted on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute. Albright scored early in the second-half, but the Falcons held on for the 2-1 victory. Messiah outshot the Lions 16-8 in the game, attempting eight shots in each half.
No. 2 Arcadia University Knights - 14-2-3, 5-1-2
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How they got here:
After the Falcons and Knights drew 0-0 in an early-season conference match, it looked as if it would come down to tiebreaker criteria to determine the top seed in the Conference Tournament. The Knights however suffered a wild 2-1 loss on Oct. 19 to the Albright Lions, forcing Arcadia to settle for the second seed in this week's tournament.
Arcadia is a well-balanced, battle-tested team with a strong 14-2-3 overall record to go along with their 5-1-2 conference record. The Knights feature a stingy defense that has allowed just eight tallies on the season, good enough for a 0.402 goals against average, 12th best in the country. Between the pipes, Briana Williams has a conference-leading nine shutouts to her name.
Players to watch:
- Erin Vander Plaat - Jr. - Forward - six goals, two assists, three game-winning goals
- Karlie Flowers - Sr. - Midfield - seven goals, two game-winning goals
- Brianna Williams - Jr. - Goalkeeper - 0.40 GAA, 0.897 save percentage, 61 saves, seven shutouts
When they met:
The Falcons and Knights met in a wild match on Oct. 9. After a scoreless first-half, Arcadia received a red card and played a woman down for the final 42 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Despite relentless pressure from the Falcons (40-6 advantage in shots), Messiah and Arcadia ended in a scoreless draw. Brianna Williams made 18 saves for the Knights in the game.
No. 3 Stevenson University Mustangs - 8-8-2, 5-2-1
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Roster |
Stats
How they got here:
After a 1-6-1 start to the season, the Mustangs rebounded with a strong run through the conference regular season to clinch the third-seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The Mustangs completely flipped the script, going 5-1-0 to start conference play before falling to Messiah and drawing Arcadia in their final two games of the regular season for a 5-2-1 conference record.
Prior to the start of October, Stevenson had record just one shutout and struggled to find the back of the net. The turnaround came with defense for the Mustangs. Outside of a 5-0 loss to Messiah and a 4-2 setback against Hood, Stevenson pitched six shutouts in eight October games going 6-2-0 in the month.
Players to watch:
- Brianna Christie - Sr. - Midfield - six goals, one assist, three game-winning goals
- Marissa Inglisa - Sr. - Forward - five goals, three assists, one game-winning goal
- Keegan Caffrey - Jr. - Goalkeeper - 1.16 GAA, 0.828 save percentage, 101 saves
When they met:
The Falcons and Mustangs met just last week in the regular season finale for the Falcons. Messiah earned a 5-0 victory on Shoemaker Field thanks to four goals in a six-minute stretch in the middle of the first-half. Messiah outshot the Mustangs 32-3 in the contest, with
Brooke Firestone and
Ellie Lengacher each netting a pair of tallies.
Kayla Herr also scored for Messiah.
