WASHINGTON, D.C. – The No. 12 Messiah field hockey team scored once on each side of halftime to down the Catholic Cardinals 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. Hannah Palm was first on the board with a tally in the 27th minute off a centering pass from Makayla Malcolm. Less than two minutes after halftime, Taylor Wiederrecht collected a loose ball and ripped a shot that found the back of the cage for a 2-0 lead.
 
The Cardinals pushed one through in the 51st minute, but Messiah was able to hold on for the 2-1 victory.
 
Catholic outshot the Falcons 13-10 in the game and held a 7-4 edge in shots on goal, but Megan Bomba and the Messiah defense was up to the task. Bomba made five saves in the contest as Messiah moves to 3-3 on the season.
 
The Falcons are back in action on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2018 NCAA Elite Eight when they travel to Johns Hopkins at 7:00 p.m.
 
Falcons and Cardinals Trade Opportunities
Catholic jumped out on the offensive in the opening minutes of Saturday's game, earning a penalty corner just 37 seconds into the contest. A shot from the Cardinals' Nicole Tsiaras off the corner was blocked. Eight minutes later another penalty corner was earned by Catholic. The second corner resulted in nearly an identical result, with a shot by Grace Olsen being blocked by the Messiah defense.
 
With just over three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Messiah had their first quality chance when they picked up a corner. Nicole Shank inserted the corner and during the chance Messiah had a shot from Mackenzie Brubaker blocked and a second attempt from Taylor Wiederrecht missed wide right.
 
After the first 15 minutes of play, both teams had two shots on the board, but their side had dented the scoreboard.

Palm Gets Falcons on the Board
Messiah put their foot on the accelerator at the start of the second quarter with four shots attempted in the first six minutes of the period. Josie Weaver recorded a pair of shots during the stretch, but her first was blocked and the second was kicked away by the Cardinals' goalie.
 
With 3:23 remaining in the first half, Messiah got on the board thanks to Hannah Palm's second goal of the season. Makayla Malcolm sent a centering pass into the circle from the right-side and Palm was there to get a stick on the delivery and redirect it past the goalie for the 1-0 Messiah lead.
 
With just less than two minutes remaining in the first half, Megan Bomba made one of her five saves on the afternoon off a penalty corner to keep Messiah in front 1-0 at the break.
 
Wiederrecht Doubles the Lead
Just two minutes after the half-time break, Taylor Wiederrecht doubled the Falcons' lead. Wiederrecht collected a loose ball and sent a strike to the far-right corner of the cage for her fourth tally of the season and first since she recorded a hat trick against Christopher Newport in the season opener.
 
The goal gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 28 minutes remaining in the contest.
 
Catholic Pressures, Cuts the Lead
After Wiederrecht found the back of the cage, Messiah attempted just one shot in the final 28 minutes of the contest. During that same stretch, Catholic recorded nine shots, putting six on frame. Megan Bomba made four saves across the final two quarters and Jess Davis picked-up an important defensive save with seven minutes remaining in regulation.
 
The defensive save from Davis came with the Falcons leading 2-1 after the Cardinals cut Messiah's lead in half with a tally from Hannah Bateman with 9:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
Despite the consistent pressure from the Cardinals over the final stretch of the game, Messiah was able to hold on for the 2-1 victory and even their record to 3-3 on the season.
 
What's Up Next
Messiah will now turn their attention to No. 8 Johns Hopkins, who they are scheduled to play in a rematch of last season's Elite Eight game that ended with the Blue Jays claiming a 3-2 victory in double overtime. The Falcons will travel to Baltimore for the rematch on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.