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Falcons Fend Off Lebanon Valley In C'Wealth 'Ship; Trapp Gets 500
Posted: 11/7/2009
Box Score | More Field Hockey news
Senior goalkeeper Ashley Mowery was named the Commonwealth Tournament Most Valuable Player after anchoring an unflappable defense against Lebanon Valley.

Grantham, PA — Consider it the ‘in’ thing to do at Messiah College.

Just six months after Falcons head softball coach Amy Weaver won her 300th career game in the NCAA Championship, field hockey leader Jan Trapp recorded her 500th career victory in Saturday’s Commonwealth Conference Championship — a 2-1 win over seventh-ranked Lebanon Valley College at Anderson Field.

Trapp’s milestone came in conjunction with Messiah’s 16th league title, as an incredible defensive effort preserved the Falcons’ fourth one-goal win of the 2009 season.

Messiah (19-0) will now await Monday’s announcement of where and when the team will play in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, while Lebanon Valley — with an overall record of 17-3 —anxiously waits to learn if it receives an at-large bid to the ‘Big Dance.’

“This was an awfully big win for us today,” Trapp said just moments after her team held on. “Our defense came up big in the second half. We may not have played our best game, but our defense really came to play when we needed it. They were nearly air-tight. Just a tiny, tiny, tiny crack. But we were good enough to get it done.”

Messiah’s ‘crack’ came in the form of an allowed goal in the game’s 65th minute, as Trapp’s defense made a pair of first-half goals stand up for the win — the Falcons’ lowest point total in any game of the year.

Despite LVC ripping off eight second-half penalty corners and 16 total shots — the second most of any Messiah opponent on the year — the Falcons’ defense was resolute, keeping a Lebanon Valley team off the board but once.

LVC entered averaging 4.9 goals per game on the year.

“We haven’t been in many defensive games like this,” Trapp said. “Having our defense step up like this is a really good thing heading into NCAAs, though. Hopefully this gives them the same type of confidence that we have on offense.”

It didn’t appear that Messiah would need to lean on its defense in the early goings, however, as the hosts scored a pair of goals in the first period, taking a — dare it be called — comfortable 2-0 lead at the intermission.

Senior Liz Ziegler opened the scoring just over six minutes in, splitting two defenders and riffling a shot past LVC senior keeper Caitlin Baro from just inside the circle, beating the backstop to her right side.

That goal would stand as the game’s only breakthrough until the final seconds of the first period, as Lebanon Valley’s third corner of the day would actually backfire on the guests.

After an LVC forward nearly missed the serve entirely with just over a minute remaining, Messiah senior defender Mary Hoover scooped up the loose ball, and fired it down the right sideline. Senior Katie Love then leaked out and — with the game clocking ticking inside of 20 seconds — attempted to score on two Dutchmen defenders, plus Baro.

Love made a nifty move with her stick and hopped over Baro, who came off her line to try and clear the ball. As two Dutchmen defenders closed, Love appeared to be trying to make another move, but was stopped by the LVC defense.

The ball somehow got past both defenders’ sticks and rolled ever so slowly across the endline and into the back of the cage, resting gently against the baseboard with just 16.9 seconds remaining on the clock.

“In the last game with LVC we had two fast breaks, and both times we got around (Baro) and put the shots wide,” Trapp said. “Today, I think Katie was determined to at least put the ball on goal. Thankfully, she did and we got a huge goal right before the half.”

With Messiah controlling the tempo of the first half — eight total shots to LVC’s two — it would be the Dutchmen that would pepper the Falcons’ back line in the final 35 minutes, doing all they could to tie the game.

Fourteen total shots were met by inspired play from the Falcons’ backline, as seven of senior goalkeeper Ashley Mowery’s eight total saves came in the second period.

And while Messiah had its fair share of counter-attack chances — Lebanon Valley’s Rachel Pantalone came up with a huge defensive save off a chip attempt from junior Kourtney Ehly in the 44th minute — the Dutchmen controlled the majority of possession late.

That possession turned into four penalty corners in the span of two and a half minutes midway through the period, but Messiah had an answer each time, as four of Mowery’s saves came during that run of play.

LVC leading scorer Jocelyn Novak finally broke through on the Dutchmen’s 10th corner of the afternoon, however, taking a feed from sopomore Jenni Walker and pushing a shot between Mowery and the near post at the 64:21 mark, cutting the Messiah lead in half.

Thankfully for Trapp and company, that would be Messiah’s only misstep of the day.

The Falcons kept LVC’s pressure at bay for the remaining five and a half minutes, closing the game with more shots than the Dutchmen (3-1) while keeping LVC to just one more penalty corner.

When the smoke cleared, Mowery was rightfully named the tournament’s MVP, stopping all but one of LVC’s nine shots on goal — a mark that equaled the second-highest amount of shots on frame by a Falcons opponent this year.

“Ashley, like she has been for her entire career, was great today,” Trapp said. “She had some great saves, and I actually think she was wrong-footed on their only goal. She’s a leader for us back there.”

Trapp, meanwhile, downplayed her 500th career win with both humility and humor. With a career record now at 500-171-28, Messiah’s next contest will push Trapp’s overall number of games coached to 700 — more than any other collegiate field hockey coach, past or present, at any level.

“It just means I’m old,” Trapp said after the game, smiling. “In all honesty, you don’t win a single game without your players. Those 500 wins are laid at the feet of many, many, many great players. I’ve been blessed here in so many ways.”

Trapp joins Bloomsburg University head coach Jan Hutchinson (587 wins) and Old Dominion University head coach Beth Anders (506 wins) as the only collegiate coaches with 500 career wins. University of Connecticut head coach Nancy Stevens is currently sitting on 499 career wins, with a game against Syracuse University scheduled for tomorrow.

Messiah will be making its 23rd appearance in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, and the program’s ninth consecutive. The NCAA will announce its selections and brackets for the 2009 NCAA Championships Monday morning. Check back to this site for the most updated information on Messiah’s upcoming game dates and locations.