LEXINGTON, Va. – The Messiah men's soccer team tailed 1-0 in the first minute of their Sweet 16 game against the Hanover Panthers on Saturday evening. The Falcons responded with heavy pressure for the remainder of the opening period, resulting in scores from Luke Brautigam and Cole Cristian to take a 2-1 lead at the break. A second-half insurance goal from Lucas Kokolios gave the Falcons their eventual winning margin of 3-1 to advance to the National Quarterfinals on Sunday.
 
Messiah will face the Washington and Lee Generals in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Earlier this afternoon the Generals defeated Christopher Newport in the other Sweet 16 game in Lexington by a 3-2 final score.
 
The Falcons held a slim 10-8 advantage in shots, but they were the side with the better chances. Outside of the opening minute, Hanover sent only one more shot on target in the contest.
 
Hanover Strikes in Opening Seconds
The Panthers had the opening touch of the game on Saturday and quickly made their way down the left side of the field. Between the pipes, Jared Pavlovich was immediately tested by Hanover's Luke Eppler with a hard shot on frame. Pavlovich made the save and then quickly dove to his left to save another shot by Eppler off his own rebound. The diving save was his second in the opening minute, but for the Panthers the third time was the charm as Carlos Schryver connected of a pass from Xander Ochsner for a 1-0 lead in just the 35th second of the match.
 
Battling Back from the Corner
Despite the initial setback, Messiah quickly found their way into a rhythm, controlling possession and creating opportunities throughout the remainder of the half. The bulk of those opportunities came off corner kicks. Messiah earned a dozen corners in the first half of play and in the 31st minute, they found the back of the net for the equalizer.
 
On the equalizing corner, Jake Lent-Koop had the first crack at the goal, sending a strong header off the crossbar that popped right to Luke Brautigam in the center of the box. Brautigam controlled himself and knocked home the equalizer to knot the match at 1-1.
 
First Career Tally
For a while it looked like that 1-1 score would hold into the half, but Caleb Aldridge and Cole Cristian had other plans in the 42nd minute. With just a few minutes before the break, Caleb Aldridge carried possession down the left side all the way to the endline and slipped a ball to Cole Cristian in the box. Cristian ran onto the feed for the one-time finish, netting his first career goal after dishing out 10 assists in his career prior to the tally.
 
The score, put the Falcons up 2-1 at the break after holding Hanover to just one shot in the final 44 minutes of the period.
 
Adding Insurance and Weathering Late Pressure
After the break, Lucas Kokolios added an insurance goal in the 58th minute to make it 3-1. At the top of the box, Kokolios created some space for himself by putting the ball on his right foot and snapping a shot past a diving keeper inside the left post.
 
Just a few minutes after Kokolios' goal, Messiah looked like they had added a fourth score when Trevor Goodling found Jonathan Groothoff for the goal, but the tally was waved off due to an offsides penalty.
 
For the final 30 minutes of the contest, the Panthers desperately attempted to keep their season alive searching for a tally, or two. None would come as Messiah held off the late push and claimed the 3-1 triumph.
 
On to the Elite Eight
With Saturday's 3-1 victory over Hanover, the Falcons move to their 19th Elite Eight appearance in program history. Messiah is slated to face the Washington and Lee Generals at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in Lexington, Va. The Generals defeated Christopher Newport in a thrilling 3-2 Sweet 16 contest on Saturday.
 
Washington and Lee will be making their first-ever trip to the Elite Eight. The Falcons and Generals have met 10 times in program history with Messiah owning an 8-2-0 overall record. However, the two teams have only met twice since the 1980s. In their recent two meetings, Messiah claimed a 1-0 overtime victory on Oct. 10, 2015 at home while also defeating Washington and Lee 4-0 on the road on Oct. 8, 2016.