Box Score
By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
San Antonio, TX — Of all the numbers that have stood out with this Messiah women's team this season, there is now one that matters more than any other:
Four.
After a back and forth first half, Messiah shelved any doubt of ending its perfect dream season early in the second, scoring three goals — including a delightful double by freshman Ali Rogers — to put away William Smith College 4-0 in NCAA Division III Semi-Final action Friday night.
The win moved the Falcons into their fourth consecutive NCAA Division III National Championship game and a potential fourth national championship, as the team will face Hardin-Simmons University Saturday at 5 p.m. CST for all the marbles at San Antonio's Blossom Athletic Center.
Fortunately for the Falcons, Friday's contest against William Smith (18-3-3) proved to be a tale of two halves. Coming out of the gate with tremendous energy, the Herons vigorously looked for the first score, led by senior forward BreLynn Nasypany. Applying pressure all over the field and seeking to find their speedy target, the Herons looked to break the back line of Messiah (24-0), a group that has only conceded a nation-leading three goals all season.
“She was definitely a very good player,” said junior defender Kelsey Gorman, whose play alongside sophomore Anne Trapp was key in neutralizing Nasypany. “(She is) very smart. (She) knew exactly where to make her first touch. It was always in a spot where I couldn't cover and she kept us on our toes. I think we, as a back row, always had to be aware of her and know where she was with or without the ball.”
That defensive awareness proved crucial, as the Herons opened the first half with a possession in the Falcons' defensive third, winning their way to an early corner.
“William Smith came out very determined to disrupt what we do with and played with unbelievable energy,” said Scott Frey, Messiah head coach. “They know we wanted to play with possession, but they made it hard to play as they had a player at our backs. We had a hard time getting out for some period of time. Every time we played to feet, they stepped on it.”
But the back-and-forth action did seem to have a somewhat controlled feel to it, as the Falcons gradually pushed up out of the backfield and into the midfield, and — inevitably — their own attacking third.
With such dynamic players, it would be hard to keep Frey's team off the scoreboard.
In the 16th minute, it happened.
With the ball already inside the Herons' 18-yard box, William Smith looked to take it off the feet of sophomore Alex Brandt. But Brandt gained a second wind and gained possession back. In one fluid motion, the University of Central Florida transfer turned away from one defender and beat another to her right, sending a low and hard shot through the smallest of holes, just beating William Smith keeper Amanda Davis and the post for her eighth goal of the season.
“When we did break pressure, I thought we could settle at times,” Frey said. “I think as the game went on, it was tough to play (William Smith's type of play) for 90 minutes.”
And just like that, a back-and-forth game was all okay.
Neither team had any true dangerous chances throughout the remainder of the period, as Messiah and William Smith went into the intermission tied in both shots (2-2) and corner kicks (2-2).
“At halftime, we made some adjustments we felt would open the game up more for us,” Frey said. “We felt good about the first half but we wanted to keep playing hard and getting after it. I thought the second half was us breaking things down and that took pressure off.”
It would be the re-emergence of a familiar face that sent the normally collected skipper in a celebratory mood. Having been held scoreless for more than 20 days, nation-leading goal scorer and senior Amanda Naeher reverted back to her 2008 NSCAA Division III National Player of the Year self in one of the most singular, heroic effort plays seen all season.
In the 55th minute, the Seymour, Ct. native received possession in the midfield and turned toward goal. Despite facing an onslaught of Heron defenders, Naeher ran through a William Smith midfielder on her left side, plowed through another defender coming on to her right hip and swung her ensuing shot so hard that she landed on the ground.
The result was Naeher's first goal in over 407 minutes of game play, putting the Falcons up 2-0 at the 54:27 mark.
Somewhat uncharacteristically, Frey and the Messiah bunch erupted with euphoric jubilation. Even so, the play was simple to Frey.
“It was Amanda being Amanda,” he said. “She was going to score and no one was going to stop her.”
Naeher was less blunt.
“The goal was a group effort,” she humbly said at the post-game press conference. “Things fell into the right place. We kept pushing it, and once we got that it settled the game a little bit. It gave us all confidence, 'Here we go. We can break their pressure. We can do this.' It opened up the game a little bit. They had to send more people up and that opened up and that gave us the next couple (goals).”
The coupled implied came from Rogers, scoring eerily parallel goals in similar situations from different spots.
The first of her double-dip came in the 77th minute, when sophomore Rachel Scheibeler played a marvelous ball to the right side of the field, countering a William Smith corner kick. Rogers received possession, and with a defender to her left, went to the end line, only to cut the ball back into the middle with her right foot, lining up her left foot with a clear shot on goal from five yards out.
The Hershey, Pa. native hit a liner near post and to the top shelf, essentially securing a birth into Saturday's national championship game. But it was only the start of Rogers' big night on the biggest of stages.
With 4:04 left to play in the game, Rogers' left no doubt to the outcome. Receiving a ball from junior Rachel Loya from the left side, Rogers ran parallel to the 18-yard box, in an effort to shake the guarding defender. Rogers 'cruyffed', losing her defender with the program's signature technical ability. The move generated ample space for the freshman to hit a well-struck left footed shot on frame, finding the back of the potato sac for the 10th time this season — the fourth player on the team with double-digit goals, a feat accomplished for the second straight season.
“Coming off the bench, I needed to take care of whatever time I got,” Rogers said. “I didn't know how much time I would get going in. (I had to) just keep the high energy off the bench and try to play the best any time you get in. It is really exciting coming in as a freshman and putting two in. I know how much it means for the upperclassmen.”
With too much to accomplish in such little time, William Smith found itself at the end of its successful season. This year's Herons were the sixth William Smith team to record 18 wins in a year — the program's top mark. Nasypany wrapped up her Heron career ranked second all-time with 138 points. She is also second with 53 career goals and tied for seconds with 32 career assists. Nasypany's team-leading 13 assists and 49 points this year are new Heron records, while her 18 goals this season tie her with three other William Smith players for third on the goals in a season list.
As bitter as the Herons' second national semi-final loss to Messiah may have been – the Falcons dispensed William Smith by a score of 3-0 in 2008 – it was nothing but sweetness on the Messiah sideline: The Falcons now advance to face Hardin-Simmons in the team's fourth straight national championship game appearance and sixth overall.
Hardin-Simmons — the nation's second ranked team in the NSCAA/Hendrickcars.com and D3soccer.com's National Top 25 Polls throughout the entire season — advanced to Saturday's tilt via a 0-0, double-overtime, 4-2 penalty kick draw over Otterbein College in the other semi-final matchup.
The championship matchup between the nation's top two teams seemed virtually inevitable all season long, as both the Falcons and Cowgirls share similar statistical numbers: Messiah has scored 116 goals and given up three this season; Hardin-Simmons has put away 111 shots this year, only conceding five.
Naeher and Gorman said they wouldn't want it any other way.
“They are the team that we've been keeping our eye on as the season has worn on,” Naeher said. “(With Hardin Simmons) being from Texas, we've never played them nor have we ever heard of them until this year, to be honest. This is going to be a pretty cool match up. Coming into this weekend, it has been in the back of our minds. I'm excited. It is going to be a battle. You want the two best teams going at it and that is what will happen tomorrow.”
“It is exciting,” Gorman added. “It makes us all anxious. Not in a nervous way, but in an excited way. The two best teams, by record and by stats, are going to go at it, tomorrow. To have that opportunity after a long, hard-fought season is very exciting.”
Frey said that he would, similarly, agree.
“I think this group is ready and looking forward to it,” Frey finalized. “(HSU is) a very good team, well organized. Similar in style and system because it is a matchup of two similar teams of how we want to play. But we are going to go after it.”
