GRANTHAM, Pa. - Just over a minute into the overtime period, Kristen Musser scored her first goal of the season to give the No. 7 Messiah field hockey team a thrilling 1-0 victory over the Juniata Eagles on Wednesday night. Messiah outshot the Eagles 16-1 in the contest, but needed overtime to seal the deal and move to 2-2 on the young season.
 
Messiah's defense allowed just the single shot and none on goal while the Falcons peppered the Eagles' goalie with nine shots on goal, the biggest being Musser's in the 62nd minute.
 
Messiah will next take the field on Saturday when they travel to The College of New Jersey at 1:00 p.m.
 
Scoreless Start
Despite the zeros in the box score, the Falcons dominated right from the start against the Eagles on Wednesday night. Messiah earned their first penalty corner of the game just 2:41 into the game and tallied on five more throughout the remainder of the period. Throughout the Falcons' six opening period corners, Messiah took four shots to the Eagles' zero. 

Still knotted at 0-0, the Falcons opened the second period with a corner and shot a little over two minutes into play. Moments later, in the 19th minute, the Falcons were knocking on the door once again with Nicole Shank inserting a penalty corner but a shot from Claire Myers was blocked by a Juniata defender. With four minutes and 57 seconds remaining before the halftime break, Shank found herself with an opportunity but her shot was saved by the Eagles' goalie.

Messiah's defense remained strong, not allowing the Eagles to record a shot in the first half.

Heavy Pressure, No Score
18 seconds into the third quarter, Taylor Wiederrecht inserted the Falcons' first penalty corner of the half and later took the first shot of the half but her attempt was saved by the Eagles' goalie. In the 40th minute, the Falcons earned two penalty corners just 31 seconds apart before being awarded a penalty stroke after a foul in the circle. Freshman Nicole Shank stepped up to take the stroke but the shot was saved by Juniata's goalie, keeping the game at 0-0 with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. 

Late Game
The fourth period started with the Eagles tacking on a bit of pressure as they earned their first penalty corner and shot of the game just a minute into the quarter. Messiah responded quickly with a penalty corner followed by two quick shots from Kristen Musser and Hannah Palm but the Eagles' goalie Nicole Piccioni was still steady in the cage as she saved the two shots to keep the game scoreless. With just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Messiah earned their 15th penalty corner of the night and rounded out the quarter with two more before the game went to overtime. 

Magic Musser
After putting her only shot in regulation on frame in the fourth period, Kristen Musser struck her second shot on goal 1:23 into overtime, this time beating the goalie to give Messiah the 1-0 overtime thriller on Anderson Field. 

What's Up Next
As mentioned, Messiah will travel to The College of New Jersey on Saturday to take on the No. 5 Lions at 1:00 p.m.