Fourth-Ranked Falcons Pick Up Steam, Roll Past Haverford 4-0
Posted: 10/11/2008
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Junior Amanda Naeher was a nuisance to the Haverford back line for the entirity of Saturday's game.

Grantham, PA — Gorgeous autumn weather and a fourth consecutive shut-out win for the Messiah women’s soccer team painted the picture Saturday afternoon at Shoemaker Field.

The only problem: Few were there to take it all in.

With Messiah celebrating its fall break recess, a vacated student body left most of the stands unoccupied as the Falcons did battle with visiting Haverford College.

For the team, anyway, it didn’t seem to matter.

Messiah — ranked fourth in the latest NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 Poll — rode the second career hat trick of junior Amanda Naeher and some steady play in the midfield to coast to a 4-0 win, keeping an opponent both shot-less and corner kick-less for the third time of the season.

It all occurred despite a slow start and some missed opportunities early from the Falcons, as head coach Scott Frey watched his team get blanked on the scoreboard until just nine and a half minutes remained in the first half.

“We talked about it before the game,” Frey said. “This was a team that we needed to put away early. We didn’t, and it got hard. (Haverford) is a good team. They defend well, and they were here to compete. We finally got some things going in transition and were fortunate to get that score at the end of the first half. That goal was big. It took some pressure off of us, and allowed us to relax a bit.”

The Falcons’ ice breaker came off the right foot of sophomore Erin Hench, as the forward received a cross from classmate Katie Hoffsmith at the 35:33 mark. Hoffsmith’s ball deflected off of Haverford goalkeeper Lindsay Festa, and Hench was there to calmly collect the ball, play it back to her right foot and blast a shot from six yards out.

The goal ended a period filled with near misses and close calls for Messiah (12-0-2), as the visiting Fords continually bent without breaking in the backfield. Intent on defending its half of the field with clear outs to the sidelines, Haverford kept the scoreboard clean for the majority of the first period despite a continual and methodical attack from Frey’s club.

Haverford (4-8) dodged a major bullet 30 minutes in, when sophomore Molly Bletz served a gorgeous ball into the box on one of Messiah’s 12 corner kicks. Hench was there to volley the ball into the frame, but a Haverford defender slapped the ball away by the near post.

As the Fords’ back was given a yellow card for the intentional handball, Messiah was awarded a penalty kick. Naeher was selected to take the shot.

She missed high and wide.

“Mandy had a number of decent looks early in the game, and I was hoping that PK would get her started,” Frey said. “I guess she got going well enough in the second half.”

Naeher tacked on three goals in the latter 45 minutes, a quality complement to her first career hat trick against Centenary College Sept. 6.

It didn’t take long to get her latest effort underway, as Naeher collected a cross from Hench just 52 seconds into the second half for a low put away. Junior Katlyn Musser then served a gorgeous ball into the box from the right flank at the 59:49 mark, a ball that was deflected by the keeper before Naeher finished the job from point-blank range.

Hench then finished things off just over a minute later, taking a through ball and dribbling the entirety of Haverford’s side of the field before sending a low cross to a streaking Naeher — resulting in almost an exact duplication of her first score of the half.

When the smoke cleared, Naeher had tallied seven shots on the day — five of which were on frame — leading her club to a 22-0 difference in that statistical category. Hench equaled her career-best mark with two helpers. The match joined the aforementioned win over Centenary and a recent 4-0 blanking of Widener as the only games to date that Messiah has held an opponent to no shots and no corner kicks.

Despite defending for the majority of the contest, Haverford was able to put some combinations together, with each coming off a counter-attack.

“We talked about the same things at halftime that we talked about before the game, but we seemed to understand the importance a little better after seeing how well (Haverford was playing us),” Frey said. “They put some things together. A couple of times we were a half step away where if we didn’t make a tackle, we would have been in trouble. I thought we did a good job of recovering. We were in the right place to clean up some potential messes. I thought (senior) Kacie (Klynstra) was really solid in the midfield and took some pressure off our backs.”

Messiah will next return to MAC Commonwealth play, making the short trip to Lebanon Valley College Tuesday. Game time is set for 4 p.m.