Late Goal Sinks Field Hockey at #20 Messiah

GRANTHAM, Pa.-Messiah's Lindsey Bower ripped a shot from the top of the circle in the 66^th minute that found the back of the cage as the #20 Falcons knocked off Juniata 3-2 on Wednesday night at Anderson Field. The loss drops the Eagles to 1-4 overall while Messiah improves to 2-3 on the season.

It was Juniata that struck first in 10^th minute of the game. Allison Groft (Hanover, Pa./South Western) picked up a loose ball in front of the goal and got a shot past Messiah goalkeeper Shelby Landes to put JC ahead 1-0.

The Eagle lead proved to be brief as less a minute later, Messiah's Emily Rubright received a pass from Carissa Gehman and fired a shot from just right of the middle and in to tie the contest up 1-1 at 10:37.

Juniata maintained a presence in the Messiah zone as it got off a trio of shots. On the third try, Sarah Bilheimer (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) snuck a shot into the bottom left corner of the cage to restore the lead to the Eagles, 2-1, in the 22^nd minute.

The Eagles were outshot 10-4 in the first half but got three of those shots on goal and converted two. Messiah held a 5-4 lead in penalty corners.

"We adjusted very quickly to the fast turf and played a strong game in the offensive end and the defensive end from the start," said head coach Caroline Gillich. "We jumped out with two goals in the first half, but did not generate the same kind of offensive threats in the second half. We really did play a good game today and its painful to lose such a close, well fought game."

In the second half, Juniata played solid defense as it blocked one shot and goalkeeper Kylie Edwards (Danville, Pa./Danville) saved four and the Eagles held onto their 2-1 lead. In the 51^st minute, the Falcons finally got the equalizer to tie the game at 2-2.

Both teams played physical as they exchanged fouls. Messiah got off two shots with one going wide and the other saved by Edwards. The Falcons' game winner came with 4:11 remaining to play.

JC was held to just one shot in the second half. Overall, Messiah led 19-5 in shots and had an 8-4 edge in penalty corners.

Coming off a three-save performance against TCNJ on Sunday, Edwards topped that effort with 10 saves. Her counterpart Landes had just two saves. "The stats show much more attack by Messiah; Kylie Edwards played 70 minutes for the first time tonight and she did a great job in goal," said Gillich. "We have three great young keepers and its exciting to watch them and our entire team beginning to grow together!" 

The Eagles will look to get back into the winning column as they travel to face Delaware Valley on Saturday.  Game time will be at 3 p.m.

"Our attack line did a nice job as the first line of defense and we played a much quicker game tonight than we have," stated Gillich. "We need to keep pushing the pace. The speed in our attack and midfield is phenomenal and we need to use that to kill other teams. We have a few games left before we hit conference play. For us that signals our second season within the fall; A chance to begin again as we strive to make it back to another championship run. This team is focused on making great things happen together and today we came so close once again. I am looking forward to seeing more young players out there mixing in with experience and seeing what they create together."