Box Score
Grantham, PA — Messiah's NCAA Tournament First Round game against Denison University began sharply at 3 p.m. EST Wednesday.
The Falcons elected to start playing at approximately 3:15 p.m.
True, the visiting Big Red scored three of the game's first four goals, but the hosts woke up and erupted shortly thereafter, going on an 8-0 run to turn the game upside down, eventually winning their second-ever NCAA Tournament contest by a score of 14-7 at Anderson Field.
Hosting an NCAA post-season game for just the second time in the 15-year history of the program, Messiah (18-1) shook off some early issues to post its program-record 14th consecutive win, advancing to face Franklin & Marshall College in Saturday's Second Round.
“It was a bit ugly out there today,” said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. “The battle for us is consistency. We really played a strong game, a team game against Elizabethtown (College in the MAC Championship). It was hard to feel like we took a small step backward today. This is the NCAAs. Everyone that made it here is good. I thought we weren't quite as sharp as we could be, especially early.”
Wednesday's contest started similarly to Messiah's other 10 home games this spring, as freshman Lizzy Keeney put the Falcons on the board first, taking a dodge and dish from senior Kara Geiman before finishing at close range with four and a half minutes elapsed.
It was then that Denison (13-5) proved it wasn't phased by the stage or a seven-hour bus ride, scoring three goals in just three minutes of game clock, putting Messiah down by its largest deficit at Anderson Field this year. The Big Red's Alex Thurner began the push, while teammate Jenny Strathern scored two in a row — the first coming off an assist from Molly Cornbrooks and the second off a free position strike.
Greer called a timeout and inserted junior Meghan Doolittle and sophomore Maddie Comfort into the game off the bench — the first time either of the tandem played in a game without starting.
The move worked, as Greer's club asserted itself in every facet, winning five of the game's next six draw controls en route to turning things around on the scoreboard.
Junior Rachel Dirksen got things started, taking the ball down the center of the field and scoring an uncontested putaway with 18:31 to go. Keeney then notched her second goal of the game three and a half minutes later, tying things up with an unassisted marker of her own.
When Geiman had a free position shot saved by Denison goalie Grace Bodenmann with 11:30 to go in the first period, she was there to pick up the deflection, putting away a point-blank attempt to give Messiah its second one-goal lead of the day.
It would only balloon from there.
Another Geiman shot was saved by Bodenmann just a minute later, but Dirksen was there to pick up the loose ball, finding Geiman in traffic for a quick score directly in front of the cage.
Dirksen added scores at the 9:37 and 8:46 marks — sandwiching a free position score from Geiman with 9:02 to go — while sophomore Cecilia Kjellman snuck in from behind the Big Red cage to put away her first goal of the night with 7:03 to go.
When the smoke cleared, Messiah had a 9-3 lead in hand. Denison's early advantage seemed a distant memory.
“That early timeout, we just needed to regroup,” Greer said. “We kind of looked around and said, 'How bad do we want this?' Denison came out ready to go. We didn't change anything tactically, but it was an intensity-type of thing.”
Denison scored its fourth goal of the contest with 5:17 to go in the first half, but Greer's club responded with three straight, highlighted by some gorgeous stick work from junior Jaime Gerhart at the 3:31 mark. It was then that Dirksen sent a low pass across the goal mouth — Gerhart scooping the dish at her ankles before shoveling in a low shot that beat Bodenmann.
Two more Big Red goals trimmed the halftime deficit to 12-6, but Messiah appeared in control.
With the extent of deliberate possessions in the second half, there were simply not enough opportunities for Denison to make a comeback.
After combining for 18 goals in the game's first 30 minutes, the teams scored just three in the latter period, though Denison equaled its first half shot total with 11.
Messiah finished two of its five shots at the 21:58 and 4:55 marks, as Geiman finished a feed from Kjellman on the former, and Kjellman a pass from Dirksen on the latter.
The Falcons won three of the four second-half draw controls, but eight second-half turnovers complicated things, giving Denison a few more offensive possessions than Greer would have liked.
“We had a lead and we were trying to sit on it a bit, but we still wanted to score,” she said. “We would be patient but then we'd make a foolish mistake and turn the ball over. We just weren't as sharp as we could have been.”
Greer's club was sharp enough, as the team outshot Denison by a 30-22 count and won 14 of the game's 23 draw controls. Geiman paced the offense with four goals and three assists, while Dirksen finished with three and three. Keeney scored three times as well, sharing game-high draw control honors with Geiman and Denison's Carly Tschantz.
“We got in a little hole, and rallied out of it,” Greer said. “You can get in a little hole against a good team, but you can't get in too deep. We were fortunate to pick up our play. Denison was a very scrappy, feisty team that had great speed. They were able to keep up with us, and they made us elevate our play.”
Wednesday's victory was the second NCAA Tournament win in program history and first in the four-year tenure of Greer, joining a 10-8 win over the University of Mary Washington back on May 10, 2006. That game also took place on Anderson Field.
The team now advances to NCAA Second Round competition for the second time ever, and will travel to Franklin & Marshall College to face a familiar opponent: The Falcons will play the host Diplomats Saturday at 11:30 a.m., hoping to come up with a similar conclusion when the team's played at the annual Spring Fling event in West Palm Beach, Florida Mar. 15 — a 10-9 Messiah overtime win.
Franklin & Marshall downed Montclair State University by an 18-7 score Wednesday in Lancaster, Pa. The Diplomats and Messiah make up an uber-talented NCAA Regional, as top-ranked The College of New Jersey and ninth-ranked Catholic University meet up in the other Second Round contest at F&M's Tylus Field.
Messiah is ranked 12th in the latest IWLCA Top 20 Poll. Franklin & Marshall is rated sixth.
“I think there are advantages and disadvantages to playing earlier in the season,” Greer said of the re-match with F&M. “Either way you look at it, it's 0-0 and a fresh start. Both teams are fighting for their lives. We played them a long time ago. They're a different team, we're a different team. One thing about F&M, though, they're the kind of team that plays with a lot of heart and never gives up. It should be a great game.”
Messiah and F&M meet at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. TCNJ and Catholic will play at 2:30 p.m. The winners will then compete Sunday at 1 p.m. for the right to advance to the national semi-finals.
