GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah Athletic Department hosted their busiest day in the last seven months on Saturday. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional fall calendar has looked different. Messiah's athletic programs have continued to practice this fall despite no intercollegiate events on the docket. On Saturday, Messiah had five programs competing in their promoted event of the fall with softball, men's cross country, women's cross country, women's soccer, and men's soccer all in action.
 
See below for a quick recap of the day's action:
 

Softball - Navy team defeats Pink team, 6-5

On a perfect October afternoon, the Messiah softball team took the field in an intersquad game at the Starry Athletic Complex. Half of the Falcons wore their traditional navy uniforms while the other half donned a special pink uniform in honor of breast cancer awareness month for a match-up of Pink vs. Blue. The Blue uniforms ended up pulling out a 6-5 victory over the Pink team with a number of highlights along the way.
 
Brynne Baker was a notable performer this afternoon both in the circle and at the dish. The sophomore notched two hits including an RBI double in the seventh for the Pink team. In the circle, she tossed three shutout innings.
 
Karlee Stocksdale also collected multiple hits at the plate, driving home a run in the top of the fourth with an RBI single up the middle. Freshman Lydia Collison ripped three hits on the afternoon, platting a run during a three-run bottom of the fourth for the Blue team with a double to left-center field.
   

Men's Cross Country - Results

Like the women, Messiah's men's cross country team was slated to compete in another MAC Virtual Meet this weekend, but without enough interest from other conference schools, Messiah formed their own team competition with their 17 runners competing on a 5K course around campus and in the local community. The course started on the back-practice fields and used the fitness trail to wrap around toward the Back 40 and eventually to Stoney Run Road.
 
On the 5K course, Nate Romberger led the Falcons with the top time by 12 seconds. Romberger turned in a mark of 16:19 and was one of six Falcons to finish under 17 minutes. Logan Horst (16:31) and Andrew Hutchinson (16:33) were hot on Romberger's heels while Kyle Costello (16:37), Galen Fitzkee (16:45), and Matt Higgs (16:59) were all under the 17-minute mark.
 
As a team the Falcons were strong up and down the line-up. All 17 runners finished the course in 18:35 or faster, with 13 crossing the line in less than 18 minutes.
 

Women's Cross Country - Results

The women's cross country team was scheduled to compete in their third of four MAC Virtual Meets this weekend, but without enough teams to compete against in the conference, Messiah decided to run their own intersquad race. Competing against each other, Messiah ran a 5K that started on the back-practice fields and wound around campus to the Back 40 before eventually ending on Stoney Run Road.
 
Messiah had a number of strong performances on the course with Cera Gaston turning in the top time by 20 seconds with a mark of 19:25. Chloe Wester was the only other Falcon under 20 minutes with a mark of 19:45, second place on the team.
 
Teddi Powell (20:05), Kathleen Walstrom (20:16), and Connor Coggins (20:28) rounded out the top-five times for the Falcons while a total of 12 Falcons finished the course in under 21 minutes. Additionally, 22 Falcons with times of 22 minutes or faster.
 

Women's Soccer - White team defeats Navy team, 3-2

Goals were a plenty in the opening minutes of Saturday's women's soccer intersquad game. Playing on Shoemaker Field for the first time since winning the 2019 National Championship, the Falcons gave the socially-distanced fans plenty to cheer about with four goals in the opening stretch of play. Less than five minutes into the contest, Rebecca Ritchie got the scoring started for the Navy team, but freshman Kaitlyn Laird answered with back-to-back tallies to put the white team in front 2-1.
 
That lead did not last long as Rachael Tirjan connected for the Navy team with the equalizer in the middle of the first half. The game stood even at 2-2 heading into the break, but Abby Monko broke through for the eventual game winner in the second-half to cap off the scoring and give the White team a 3-2 victory over their Navy clad teammates.  

Men's Soccer - Navy team defeats White team, 3-1

Ending the day was the men's soccer team, taking on each other on Shoemaker Field in an intersquad scrimmage. It was a closely contested contest that was competitive from start to finish. After a scoreless first-half, the Navy team finished on top by a 3-1 final score, thanks to two goals in the final minutes to take the lead and then seal the victory.
 
Playing two, 30-minute halves neither team could find the back of the net in the opening period, but the goals started flowing later in the game. Freshman Josh Bratager got on the board first for the Navy team, tapping in a rebound off a Lucas Kokolios shot. Just a few minutes later the White team found an equalizer off the foot of Luke Brautigam to the right post.
 
In the final minutes of the contest, a pair of corners helped the Navy team put the go ahead and insurance goals on the board en route to the 3-1 victory. Trevor Swartz used his head to score off a corner to make it 2-1 before Jonathan Groothoff ended the night's scoring with a tally on the play following a corner.
 

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