Elizabethtown
Falls 2-1 in
Overtime to Nationally #1-Ranked Messiah in Commonwealth Conference Championship
Game
GRANTHAM,
Pa.
--- Elizabethtown fell 2-1 on the road in overtime to nationally top-ranked
Messiah College Saturday night in the Commonwealth Conference championship game.
Messiah improves to 20-0 with the win and clinches the conference’s automatic
berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, which begins Wednesday, November 9.
Elizabethtown
drops to 14-4-2 overall with the loss and must now wait to see whether or not
it receives one of the 17 available at-large berths in the tournament. The NCAA
Division III men’s soccer tournament field will be announced by the NCAA by
Monday, November 7.
After a scoreless first half in which
Elizabethtown
out-shot Messiah 6-5, a goal by Messiah’s David
McClellan broke the stalemate at 77:51. Messiah’s Ben
Wagner was fouled in the box by
Elizabethtown
at 77:49, setting up a penalty kick by McClellan.
Etown goaltender A.J. Fleisher (
Kutztown
,
PA
/Kutztown Area) blocked the PK, but McClellan
received the ricochet and buried the ball in the back of the net two seconds
later.
Elizabethtown
tied the game with just 23 seconds left in regulation time. Messiah’s Brian
Mohney was red-carded in the box to set up an Etown penalty kick, upon which
Brian Healy (
Newark
,
DE
/A.I. DuPont) scored.
The red card meant that Messiah had to play shorthanded with 10 players
on the field for the rest of the game and into overtime. Yet, Messiah managed to
score 2:37 into overtime when McClellan
struck again, this time off an assist by Jared
Bollinger.
Messiah held a 15-13 advantage in shots over the course of the game,
while
Elizabethtown
had a 2-1 edge in corner kicks. Etown goalie A.J.
Fleisher made eight saves, while Messiah goalie Dustin
Shambach had four saves.
At
Grantham
,
Pa.
Commonwealth
Conference Championship Game
#1
Messiah 2,
Elizabethtown
1 (OT)
Elizabethtown
(14-4-2)
0 1
0 --
1
Messiah
(20-0)
0 1
1 --
2
Goal
Scoring:
M—David
McClellan, 77:51
E—Brian
Healy, 89:37 (penalty kick)
M—David
McClellan (Jared Bollinger), 92:37
Shots:
E
13, M 15. Shots on Goal: E 5, M 10. Corner Kicks: E 2, M 1. Goalie
Saves: A.J. Fleisher (E) 8, Dustin Shambach (M) 4.
