Box Score
GRANTHAM, Pa. - LVC improved its effort against #2 Messiah from the first time the two squads met this season, but the result was the same. In a semifinal match of the Commonwealth Conference Championships, the Dutchmen were downed by the Falcons, 3-0.
At the end of the first half, Lebanon Valley trailed the second-ranked team in the country, Messiah, by a 1-0 score. The Dutchmen withstood a first-half charge from the top seed in the Commonwealth Conference Championships, as the Falcons outshot LVC by a 12-6 margin. The only score of the half came in the 31st minute when J.P. Fulton took a cross from Trevor Lee and beat LVC keeper
Andrew Raudensky.
While Messiah had more total shots than LVC in the first half, the Dutchmen placed just as many on goal.
Kelly Hess and
Mark Johnson each sent an offering in on Jared Clugston, but the keeper was there to make the save.
With the game in reach after 45 minutes, the first goal of the second half was key. Unfortunately for LVC, the score came off the foot of Joshua Wood. He one-timed a low pass from Derek Black to extend Messiah's lead to 2-0 in the 53rd minute.
Wood added even more insurance in the 58th minute, collecting the redirect of a Geoff Peson shot and tallying his second goal of the game.
LVC is now 10-7-2 in 2009. Messiah improved to 18-1-0.