CARLISLE, Pa. - The Dickinson field hockey team entered Friday's season opener against eighth-ranked Messiah University with upset on their mind and were close to achieving just that. Unfortunately, for the Red and White, Mallory Kline tallied at the 4:42 mark of the first overtime to allow the Falcons to escape the Biddle Field Complex with a slim 3-2 non-conference win.
The visitors would tally the opening three shots of the game as Nicole Shank had one snuffed out by the defense, Jenna Lutz fired one off the mark and Madi Johnson was unable to scare DC keeper
Olivia Renault. The Red and White made their first foray into the offensive zone quite productive by earning a corner with 12:20 off the clock.
Abby Marthins would insert the corner to
Morgan Yandow-Harding who stepped into a shot, but had it blocked. However, the ball would ricochet out to
Nicole Uebele who opened her collegiate account by sliding a shot past Catie Brubaker. Unfortunately, for the hosts Messiah got on level terms at the final horn with Teagan Murrie cashing in off a corner from Lutz.
The second period was played primarily in the midfield as there were just two shots recorded both by the Falcons with Murrie being shutdown by Renault and Aubrey Clark missing the target to send the game to the break still locked at 1-1.
Messiah came out of the break and tried to take the game over firing all seven shots in the frame, but the DC defense held their ground forcing Renault to make just two stops.
Dickinson was on the attack early in the fourth as back-to-back corners inside the opening three minutes led to shots from
Megan McClure and Marthins, unfortunately, Brubaker was there to deny any chance. Messiah then went back the other way and tasked Renault with two more saves shutting down Hailey Womer and Kelsey Heltzel. After a green card was given to Heltzel, the Red and White went a player-up for two minutes. However, it would be the Falcons that would strike as Clark found the back of the cage. The Devils did not go down quietly as they earned three consecutive corners that eventually resulted in Yandow-Harding feeding a pass to the far post that Anna Synder tipped beyond Brubaker to make it 2-2 still with seven minutes left. Renault was called on two more times over the final couple of minutes to sent the match to overtime.
The extra session began with Renault continuing her strong afternoon by stopping Johnson twice as well as Womer within the opening two minutes. Then, DC flipped the momentum and earned a pivotal corner with a chance to end the game. However, a chance from Yandow-Harding was denied by the keeper, before the ensuing rebound kicked right back out to her for a blast that beat the goalie but Lillian Peters was on the line to clear the ball. That allowed Messiah to charge back down the pitch and close out the contest as Kline deflected a feed from McFeaters into the cage for the 3-2 win.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals - Snyder and Uebele (1)
Shots - Yandow-Harding (3)
Saves - Renault (11)
Falcon Leaders
Goals - Clark, Kline and Murrie (1)
Shots - Kline (5), Clark and Shank (4)
Saves - Brubaker (2)
Next on the Pitch
Dickinson (0-1) continues their busy weekend on Sunday when they face another nationally-ranked opponent as No. 23 University of Lynchburg comes to the Biddle Field Complex at 2pm.
