CARLISLE, Pa. – Prior to their contest with the Dickinson Red Devils, the No. 9 Messiah men's soccer team had to sit through an hour-plus weather delay. The rain did little to slow down the Falcons as Messiah rattled off five first-half goals en route to a 6-1 victory to improve to 3-0-1 on the young season.
 
Six different Falcons found the back of the net, with Jonathan Groothoff getting things started in just the 10th minute. Tallies by Ben Lefever, Luke Brautigam, Josh Bratager, and Matt McDonald followed in the next 28 minutes to give Messiah a 5-0 lead heading into the break.
 
The Falcons added a sixth goal in the 54th minute off the foot of Trevor Goodling and despite a late tally by the Red Devils, Messiah earned the 6-1 victory on a rain-soaked evening in Carlisle.
 
Messiah will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Salisbury to take on the Sea Gulls at 2:00 p.m.
 
Offensive Explosion
After waiting out an hour-long rain delay, one would expect the Falcons and Red Devils to be a little slow on the draw in the opening half. That was not the case on Wednesday for the Falcons. Messiah came out firing, putting five goals in the back of the net in the opening half, scoring all five tallies in a 28-minute stretch.
 
Jonathan Groothoff got the offensive barrage started in the 10th minute off a slotted ball into the middle of the box from the right endline. The one-touch finish from Groothoff gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
 
Just eight minutes later, Ben Lefever collected a pass just a step into the box on the right side with his back to goal. A quick turn to his left gave Lefever some space and his strike found the left-side netting for a 2-0 Messiah lead.
 
In the 24th minute, Messiah earned a free kick deep in the Dickinson end near the corner. Lucas Kokolios sent the free kick toward the back post for Luke Brautigam. Brautigam beat his defender to the spot and connected cleanly on a header that skipped past the keeper for the third Messiah goal of the night.
 
The Falcons capped off the opening half with two more goals. The first of the two was the first career score from Josh Bratager in the 29th minute, taking a feed from Matt McDonald near the penalty spot and finding the twine. Then nine minutes later, Luke Foster created a turnover near the mid-field stripe. He carried all the way into the box and slipped a pass to Matt McDonald for the one-time strike and the 5-0 Messiah lead heading into the break.
 
Messiah attempted 15 shots in the period, putting 10 on frame while Dickinson attempted three shots, testing Messiah keeper Jarod Pavlovich just once.
 
Trading Second-Half Goals
Just eight minutes into the second half, Trevor Goodling added to the Falcons' lead with a beautiful touch around the keeper before netting Messiah's sixth goal of the game. Ben Lefever sent a through ball to Goodling in the box, Goodling touched a pass around Dickinson keeper and deftly scored his second goal of the season. The Red Devils answered in the 63rd minute off the foot of Johnny Melancon to achieve the final score of 6-1.
 
Messiah registered 22 total shots in the match, putting 15 attempts on frame.
 
What's Up Next
With the victory, Messiah moves to 3-0-1 on the season. The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to the eastern shore of Maryland to take on the Salisbury Sea Gulls at 2:00 p.m.