BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Oct. 3, 2012) - On a muggy night at Schlager Memorial Field, the Alvernia Crusaders (6-3-3, 1-1) men's soccer team fell to Messiah College (10-0-1, 2-0) 2-0 in a rematch of last fall's Commonwealth Conference championship final.

Messiah came into the game undefeated and was ranked third in the latest NSCAA top 25 poll.

The Falcons came out strong, scoring in the first two minutes on a shot by the junior forward Joshua Wood.

Messiah had four shots on goal in the first 10 minutes with the Crusaders first shot coming from Travis Foster (Bernville, Pa./Tulpehocken) that went wide.

Facing a 1-goal deficit at the half, the Crusaders came out fighting in the second half.  Senior midfielder Kyle Martin (Media, Pa./Penncrest) put a free kick wide of the net two minutes after the break.

Messiah's sophomore goalie Brandon West came into the game only allowing three goals all season and wasn't looking to give up a fourth.  West challenged Josh Wollaston (Middletown, Del./Caravel Academy) midway through the first half for his only save of the opening 45 minutes.  He got help from his back-post defender on a header by Tyler Reinoehl (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) in the 56th minute and laid out to deny RJ Fisher (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) in the 72nd minute.

Senior forward Michael Andrei (Reading, Pa./Exeter) had a good shot to score just prior to Fisher's shot, but his effort was just wide.

Messiah's scored the insurance goal in the 82nd minute on a free kick that was put in play quickly by sophomore forward Jack Thompson who found Wood who one-timed it to Jeremy Payne for the goal on a set play.

The Crusaders finished the game with seven shots, while Messiah had 22 shots, 21 of which were taken on Alvernia keeper Ben Diller (Etters, Pa./Red Land) before he was replaced with four minutes left by freshman David Giannini (Harleysville, Pa./Faith Christian).

The Crusaders next game will be Saturday when they host Lebanon Valley.

Messiah 2, Alvernia 0