GRANTHAM, Pa. - The No. 1 Messiah men's soccer team saw the 2022 season come to a close in a penalty kick shootout at the hands of the Williams Ephs in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. The Falcons and Ephs played a scoreless 90 minutes and then two scoreless overtime periods before penalty kicks were taken to determine an advancing team. The Falcons were on the shot end of a 4-3 penalty kick shoot out with Jared Pavlovich making a save for the Falcons in the second round of the kicks. William's Ben Diffley made two saves in the shootout as the Ephs move on to the Sweet 16 next weekend.
 
The Falcons outshot the Ephs 14-3 in the match, but were unable to find a moment of brilliance as the stellar Ephs defense was well organized across all 110 minutes of play.
 
Messiah concludes the season with an overall record of 20-0-2.
 
How It Happened
Goals against the Williams Ephs have been hard to come by for their opponents. Williams have allowed just two goals in their last six games, entering their Second Round match with Messiah. Both of those tallies came off of penalty kicks against NYU (yesterday) and Tufts in the NESCAC Semifinals.
 
The Ephs defense showed they were up for a challenge, keeping the nation's highest scoring offense in check for 110 minutes on Sunday afternoon. While Messiah's attack had a handful of quality chances throughout the match, the Falcons were unable to find a scoring moment in the match. In regulation, Messiah attempted a dozen shots, putting five attempts on frame. The Ephs' keeper, Ben Diffley handled all five attempts to keep the match scoreless through regulation.
 
During regulation, Messiah put three shots on frame in the first 24 minutes of the match. Luke Brautigam had the first, sending a shot from distance right at Diffley in the fifth minute. Grant Johnson followed with a shot to the left post that was saved. The Falcons' best chance of the first half might have come off the foot of Ben Lefever in the 24th minute. Lefever beat his defender on the right side and went one-on-one with Diffley, but he collected his third save in the early going on the attempt.
 
In the second half, Diffley picked up his fourth and fifth saves with attempts from Matt McDonald in the 47th minute and Cole Cristian in the 70th minute.
 
Jared Pavlovich was not tested with a shot on goal in the match, however the Ephs had a couple of dangerous moments. None scarier than an attempt in the 19th minute from Keel Brissett. After a misplay on the back line, Brissett attempted a shot too quickly and missed well right of his target.
 
 Messiah attempted the only two shots in the 20 minutes of overtime. With just seconds left in the first overtime period, Matt McDonald quickly turned and ripped a shot from outside of the box toward the upper-right 90. His attempt sailed just high and over the bar. In the 108th minute, McDonald attempted another shot that again missed his target high.
 
With no goals to be found in overtime, penalty kicks were necessary to find an advancing team.
 
With Williams kicking first, both teams connected in the first round of penalty kicks. In the second round, Jared Pavlovich made a diving save to his right to keep things tied. Ben Diffley matched Pavlovich's save with one of his own in the second round. As a result, the shootout was level at 1-1 after two rounds.
 
Williams converted their next two shots with Matt McDonald and Luke Groothoff matching with makes of their own to keep things tied 3-3 after four rounds.
 
In the fifth and final round, Williams' Jake Peters found the back of the net, forcing the Falcons to respond with a make. Messiah's attempt in the fifth round was saved by Diffley and the Williams Ephs advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 4-3 decision in penalty kicks.
 
Closing Out the Season
With Sunday's match counting as a draw, Messiah concludes the season without a loss for just the third time in program history. The Falcons finish the season with an overall record of 20-0-2, joining the 2012 (23-0-2) and 2005 (24-0-0) without a loss.