Box Score
Grantham, PA – Three years after collecting
three goals and an assist in his first-ever game against Elizabethtown College, junior
Joshua Wood rose to the occasion again on Saturday night, scoring two goals to lead Messiah to a 4-0 win over the rival Blue Jays.
Wood's first score came just 2:40 into the contest, a somewhat shocking start to a rivalry-game largely considered one of the best in all of NCAA Division III athletics. The score came off an assist by sophomore
Jeremy Payne after Payne drove his possession to the end line before passing middle to find Wood.
Wood's second goal came in the 21st minute of the game, a deflection off his chest on a corner kick by sophomore
Jack Thompson.
The goals were his fifth and sixth of the season, with Thompson's assist being his fifth. The assist for Payne was his first this season.
For Wood—who now has five goals and an assist in three career games against E-town—the match-up with the Blue Jays is always a highlight.
“This game is such a circus act,” Wood said with a smile, admiring on the high-energy play on the field and high-energy support from the fans. “We want to bring a stone-cold focus into the game and play our style, and make sure that we're not distracted by the atmosphere.”
Indeed, the atmosphere can be cause for distraction. Referred to as the “Marshmallow Bowl,” Messiah and E-town fans annually arrive at the contest with marshmallows ready to be tossed at opposing fans, towards the field, and sometimes near the players. Regardless of each school's attempt to curtail the throwing of the marshmallows, both sets of fans manage to smuggle them into the venue each year.
On this night, the “Marshmallow Bowl” proved to be just good fun—especially for the Falcons.
“Elizabethtown has a storied program, a good coach, and they're right down the road,” Messiah head coach
Brad McCarty said, commenting on the attention annually given to the match-up. “There have been a lot of memorable games from the 1980's through to the past couple of years. This rivalry brings out a great crowd, great soccer, and it's been going on for a long time.
“The players look forward to it, the coaches look forward to it, and the fans look forward to it.”
With Wood's first goal setting off a flurry of marshmallows, the Falcons celebrated. Less than 20 minutes later, Wood's second goal gave the home team a lead they would take through the intermission.
In the first half, Messiah outshot E-town 17-2, with Blue Jays keeper Eric Carr making four saves. He would finish with six saves on the night, with Messiah launching 29 total shots.
“Our shooting percentage can struggle at times,” McCarty said, reflecting on his team's high shot totals. “When we get shots on the goal, we're really dangerous. It's something we wan to focus on each time out.”
The “danger” McCarty spoke of was on display early in the second half, with sophomore
Mike Kovach giving the Falcons a commanding 3-0 lead. His score would be the result of his own hustle as he beat E-town defender Marin Fevre to a possession near the Falcons' bench. In simultaneously taking the ball at his feet and keeping it in play, Kovach raced down the right sideline and drove into the penalty box. When just about 15 yards out from the near post, Kovach gave a hard strike on the angle to the far post. The ball went out of the reach of Carr's dive and bounded into the net on the far side.
The goal was Kovach's third in three games, and fourth on the season.
“It's a handful for defenses to have Wood, Payne, Thompson, and Kovach up the field for us,” McCarty said of his team's attack. “Those are four tough guys to handle.”
True to his point, Payne added a goal less than two minutes after Kovach's score to put Messiah on top 4-0. His score, in the 53rd minute, came off a free kick set from 25 yards out in the midfield—the result of a quick, lofted pass forward from sophomore
Brian Ramirez as the E-town defense was organizing itself.
In the history of the Messiah-Elizabethtown rivalry, it was just the fourth time ever that one team scored at least four goals.* However, with the game ending 4-0, Saturday's game proved to be the largest margin of victory in a shutout-win by either team since they began playing in 1980.
With the win, Messiah as now won seven-straight decisions over E-town, with the Blue Jays' last win coming in the 2006 Commonwealth Conference semifinals (1-0). Since that game, Messiah has outscored E-town 25-2 in seven wins.
The loss drops E-town to 4-6-2 in 2012, including 2-1 in the Commonwealth.
Messiah, ranked No. 3 in the most recent NSCAA Top 25 Poll, moves to 11-0-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
The Falcons will look to keep 12-game unbeaten streak alive when they host Hood College on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 7:00 p.m.
*Messiah has scored five goals twice, in a 5-4 regular-season win in 1995 and a 5-1 regular-season win in 2009.
Over 3,900 fans were in attendance to see Messiah beat E-town 4-0 on Saturday night on Shoemaker Field.
