Logo
Logo
Logo
Twitter   Facebook
Messiah Answers Each Bullet Push, Deals Gettysburg 5-2 Defeat
Posted: 9/16/2009
Box Score | More Men's Soccer news
Strong play from its reserves propelled Messiah Wednesday night, including this goal from sophomore Sam Woodworth.

By Travis Galaska, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — For those fans expecting a defensive struggle in Wednesday’s game between Messiah and Gettysburg College on a damp Shoemaker Field — similar to last year’s 1-1 tie between the two clubs — you were right.

For the first three minutes.

After that came 87 minutes of solid possession and great scoring chances, resulting in seven total goals between the teams, with the scoreboard finally showing a 5-2 score in favor of the Falcons.

It all started in the fourth minute, with the Falcons carrying all of the opening possession in their offensive third. This possession eventually resulted in a corner, taken from the right side by junior Geoff Pezon. Pezon sent a ball into the penalty area, where it bounded around and finally reached the feet of a Gettysburg defender, who got a chance to make a clean clearance. This clearance, however, ended up right on the feet of junior midfielder Nick Thompson, who promptly lined up a shot on goal, but his blast was wide left of the net … until it was redirected by the leg of another Bullet defender, right into the back center of the net for a 1-0 Falcon lead.

“We wanted to come out strong and score early,” said Messiah head coach Brad McCarty. “We did that tonight, and that’s a positive.”

This lead was surprisingly short-lived, however, as Gettysburg (2-1-2) would come back to tie the game up just five minutes later.

After Messiah nearly tallied another goal by having a header off a throw-in cleared off the Gettysburg line, the Bullets sent a through pass behind the Messiah defense, where Gettysburg senior Geoff Menge would catch up with the ball on the right inside the penalty box. Messiah senior goalkeeper Jared Clugston came racing off his line to meet the challenge, but Menge was able to dribble further to his right and around the sliding Clugston. Catching up with the ball right on the Messiah end line, Menge sent a low cross all the way across the goal mouth to wide open Gettysburg freshman Ben Tabor, who sent the ball cleanly into the back of the net to knot the game at one.

Just three minutes later, Tabor nearly put the Bullets ahead with another shot from inside the penalty box, but Clugston made a diving save to his right, pushing the ball wide off the net for one of his three big saves on the night.

The teams would swap possession in the midfield for the next twenty minutes, before Messiah (5-0) once again started to ratchet up the action. It began in the 35th minute, when freshman Joshua Wood put a clean ball across the goal, only for it to once again be cleared off the goal line by the Bullets’ defense.

In the next two minutes, sophomore Tom Renko would get two open looks on goal from just outside the penalty box, but both would sail just outside of the frame.

Finally, the Falcons were able to string together another pretty play to get themselves back on the board at the 40:44 mark. With most of Messiah’s starters sitting out the latter portion of the half, it was again the Falcons’ second team that would give them the lead.

Sophomore Sam Woodworth got the play started, taking a pass from the back and taking a few dribbles toward the center of the Falcon offensive third. Seeing an opening, he fired a low pass to the feet of junior Mark Jeschke, where he met it just behind all of the Bullets’ midfielders and just in front of their middle two defenders.

Jeschke would do the rest, taking the pass and doing some speedy dribbling, splitting the two defenders and getting in alone on goal. With the defenders on his back and the Bullets’ freshman keeper Mike Walmer coming off the line to meet him, Jeschke dribbled to his left, around the sliding Walmer, and slotting the ball into the back of the net, lifting the Falcons to a 2-1 halftime lead.

“Our second group played strong,” said McCarty. “That’s another big positive for us. Our depth helps us, being able to play a lot of guys.”

The second half started with more of the same, with each team swapping their own offensive attacks and pressure against each other, and each team getting extremely close to their next goal – Pezon having a ball cleared off the line yet again by the Bullets’ defense, and Bullets’ sophomore Kyle DeBlois getting a rebound and pushing a rocket just high over the net from 15 yards.

In the 69th minute, though, the Bullets would strike again.

Senior Ryan Shaffer sent a through ball behind the Messiah defense, where DeBlois caught up with it just outside the penalty box. With Clugston having to come out off of his line again to try and shut down the attack, DeBlois took a nifty dribble to his right, beating Clugston and clipping a low shot into the back of the wide open net for a 2-2 tie.

For this, the Bullets deserve their credit: It isn’t every day a team comes into Shoemaker Field and play 70 minutes of great soccer against the number one team in the country —according to the latest NSCAA/adidas Top 25 rankings.

From that moment on out, though, all the credit belonged to the Falcon squad.

Instead of getting discouraged about giving up the lead in the game – twice, for that matter – the Falcons (5-0) did what they seemingly do best: Play strong team soccer and score quick goals.

Three of them, in fact.

“We try to always be disciplined, play the right way,” said McCarty. “It’s important that we maintain mental toughness, and we did that tonight.”

Messiah’s strong finish started in the 71st minute. Wood worked himself alone on the right side of the Bullets’ penalty box. Looking to send a ball across the box to a streaking Messiah attacker, Wood delivered his cross, albeit slightly low. Before it could reach any Messiah players, however, a Gettysburg defender stuck out his foot, clipping the ball and sending it off course … chipping it into the air, over the keeper Walmer, and into the back of the net.

This fluky goal gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead, one they would not relinquish for the rest of the affair. Try as they might, the Bullets were simply out of ammo.

In the 79th minute, the Falcons were awarded another corner, one of their nine on the night. Sent in by Pezon again, the ball would make it all the way to the opposite side of the goal, where Woodworth slammed a high header into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead. Thompson would finish off the scoring for the Falcons, getting taken down from behind inside the penalty box and sending his penalty kick roaring into the back right half of the net.

“It’s only our fifth game of the season,” McCarty said after the 5-2 victory. “We’ll keep working and we’ll get better.”

The Falcons stay at home for their next match, hosting the Bulldogs of DeSales University, while the Bullets go home to try and rebound against Ursinus College, also on Saturday night. Both games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.