(Posted October 24, 2006)

Messiah 9, Juniata 1 HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The Juniata College men\'s soccer team played even with second-ranked Messiah College at times, but when the goals came for the visitors they came in bunches as the Eagles suffered a 9-1 set-back in conference action Tuesday afternoon. Juniata is now 5-12 on the year and 0-6 in the conference, while the Falcons raised their record to 15-0-1 on the season and 6-0 in the conference. After scoring in the seventh minute to take a 1-0 lead, the visitors got three goals in a five-minute stretch midway through the first half and then added two more goals late in the half to remove the hope of a Juniata comeback. The Falcons got started quickly as Josh Sanders found the ball on his feet in the 18-yard box at 6:32 and fired it past Juniata keeper Brian Trinclisti (Lewistown/Lewistown). Trinclisti would make several strong saves over the next 10 minutes as he worked to keep Juniata in the match. But the visitors would take control with the three-goal spurt beginning with a Patrick Lenehen goal at 18:28. Ben Jordan assisted on the goal. Lenehan struck again less than a minute later off a Dan Visser assist and then a long throw-in from Jordan found Ben Stoltzfoos for Messiah\'s fourth goal at the 22:02 mark. Juniata answered back quickly when Kenneth Wiles (Rhinebeck/Rhinebeck, N.Y.) gathered a Mike Gwiazdowski (Central York/York) pass and beat Messiah keeper Dustin Shambach to pull Juniata within three goals at 4-1. But the Falcons added a pair of goals late in the half with Lenehan striking for the third time, this time off an assist from Calvin Todd, and then Todd converting a Phil Benedict pass in the 42nd minute to make it 6-1 Messiah. Trinclisti continued to battle in goal at the start of the second half as he made two of his five saves early in the half as the Eagles prevented the Falcons from adding to the lead. Lenehan would then put the match away with another pair of goals slightly more than a minute apart as he scored for the fourth and fifth time. The fourth tally was assisted by Josh Mull and Tim Stello, while his final goal came off another Stello assist. Jordan added a goal for the Falcons off a cross from Benedict in the 83rd minute to cap the scoring. Juniata finished with 11 shots in the match and forced Messiah keepers to make four saves. Juniata closes out its season, and its play in the Commonwealth Conference on Saturday with a home conference match against Widener. ###

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