GRANTHAM, PA. - Five different players scored goals as the nationally second-ranked Messiah field hockey team opened its season with a 5-2 win versus 11th-ranked Cortland Saturday afternoon. The Red Dragons fell to 1-1 with the setback.

Junior Sara Woodward (Ancram/Pine Plains) and sophomore Karly Vdoviak (Johnstown) scored goals for Cortland. Junior Liz DeWaters (Lockport/Royalton-Hartland) contributed an assist. Junior goalie Emily von Schondorf (Webster/Webster Thomas) made 10 saves.

Kourtney Ehly led the Falcons with a goal and two assists, Emily Hursh had a goal and an assist and Kilee Rosenberry, Brooke Sands and Heather Quirk each added a goal. Kayleigh Stewart stopped one shot in the first half, and Molly Gebrosky turned aside five shots over the final 35 minutes.

Vdoviak gave Cortland a 1-0 lead just one minute, 49 seconds into the game when she followed up a rebound with a shot into the right corner. Messiah responded with three goals in less than a 15-minute span to grab a 3-1 lead at the half.

The Falcons tacked on the first two goals of the second half to stretch their lead to 5-1 before Woodward finished the scoring with a 10-yard blast off DeWaters' pass with 2:09 remaining.

Messiah 5, Cortland 2

Scoring Summary (Goals-Assists):
Cortland: Karly Vdoviak 1-0, Sara Woodward 1-0, Liz DeWaters 0-1
Messiah: Kourtney Ehly 1-2, Emily Hursh 1-1, Kilee Rosenberry 1-0, Brooke Sands 1-0, Heather Quirk 1-0, Juliana Hershey 0-1, Dara Downs 0-1

Halftime: Messiah 3, Cortland 1
Shots: Messiah 22, Cortland 11
Penalty Corners: Messiah 13, Cortland 2
Saves: Emily von Schondorf (Cortland) 10 (5 GA in 70:00); Kayleigh Stewart (Messiah) 1 (1 GA in 35:00), Molly Gebrosky (Messiah) 5 (1 GA in 35:00)
Record after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 1-1 (ranked 11th in Div. III); Messiah (Falcons) 1-0 (ranked 2nd in Div. III)