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Falcons Make Quick Work Of Wash & Jeff, Move On In NCAAs
Posted: 11/16/2008
Box Score | More Women's Soccer news
Junior Amy Horst completed a triad of double goal-scorers Sunday night against Washington & Jefferson.

Grantham, PA — If there was a question of how long it would take the second-ranked Messiah women’s soccer team to shed the rust following a week-long layoff, fans at Sunday night’s NCAA Second Round match-up against Washington & Jefferson College got a crystal-clear answer:

Forty-five minutes.

After trudging to a 1-0 lead in the game’s first half, Messiah (20-0-2) exploded for five goals in the second, cruising to a 6-0 win under the lights at Shoemaker Field while advancing to NCAA “Sweet 16” for the eighth time in the last nine years. Washington & Jefferson — which entered the game via a 1-1, 5-4 penalty-kick win over Marywood University in NCAA First-Round play Thursday afternoon — concluded its season with a 15-6-2 record overall. The Presidents were making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history.

Messiah will now host one of the nation’s four "Sweet 16" pods, as the team will face the University of Chicago Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Nearby rival Eastern University will take on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the day's second game at 1:30 p.m.

“I thought it showed that we hadn’t played for a week early tonight, but fortunately we got increasingly better as the night went on,” said Scott Frey, Messiah head coach. “We weren’t as sharp as I’d like us to be in the first half, but Wash and Jeff had a good plan defensively and made it tough on us to get around and get a good look. When we did get good looks, we didn’t take advantage of them.”

With Messiah sitting idle since its MAC Commonwealth Championship win over Elizabethtown College Nov. 8, the Presidents did an adequate job thwarting the majority of Messiah’s 16 first-half shots on goal. A singular miscue in the W&J backfield led to the Falcons’ only first-period score, however, as a pair of Presidents’ defenders allowed a cleared ball from the Messiah back line to squeak through. As sophomore Erin Hench applied pressure, the skillful forward collected the loose ball just inside of the midfield line and dribbled all the way toward the W&J frame.

Getting a one-on-one opportunity with Presidents’ goalkeeper Jackie Foltz, Hench two-touched the ball around the charging backstop, sending an open-goal shot to the far post at the 27:21 mark.

It would be a preview of more offense to come for the Falcons, as a total 21 second-half shots equated to five second-period goals. Junior Amanda Naeher began the surge under a minute into the second stanza, taking a low cross from senior Kacie Klynstra and blasting a brilliant header into the back of the net with 45:54 elapsed. Hovering just a foot off the ground, Naeher went horizontal to make it a 2-0 game.

Hench then tacked on her second score of the night with 52:05 gone, receiving a feed from sophomore Katie Hoffsmith on the right wing. Hench — stationed near post — slotted the ball just inside of the post, effectively putting the game out of reach for Washington & Jefferson.

Naeher scored her second of the game — and program-leading 30th of the season — at the 60:43 mark, taking a textbook lay-off from Klynstra for an easy finish while charging into the 18-yard box. Junior Amy Horst then became Messiah’s third two-goal scorer of the evening at the 76:17 and 85:24 marks, teeing up a deflected shot from freshman Rachel Loya for the first and heading in what appeared to be a mis-hit shot from freshman Jessica Shirk for the second.

“We were much more aggressive overall in the second half,” Frey said. “We did not have the all-out attacking mindset early. I thought our back row continued to play very well for us. We’ve got a very good team out of the (University Athletic Association) up next, and they’re tournament-tested.”

Chicago (14-5-1) is in the midst of its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 13 years, qualifying for this year’s dance as an at-large bid. Messiah defeated the Maroons by a 2-1 overtime score in the 2005 national semi-finals, the teams’ last meeting.

Shoemaker Field will host the four-team Sectional both Satuday and Sunday, with the winners of Saturday’s games meeting Sunday at 1 p.m. for a right to advance to the 2008 NCAA Division III women's soccer Final Four.