July 9, 2009
By Kevin Scheitrum
NCAA.com
With the 2008-09 season fading into memory and fall practices still a month away, NCAA.com is spending two weeks in July looking back on 10 athletic programs that stood not just once, but twice (and, in three cases, thrice) atop the college sports world with national championships in '08-`09. From Messiah's magic soccer runs to Washington's scintillating softball title, this 10-part series showcases the schools that helped to define another unforgettable year of college sports.
MESSIAH PHOTO GALLERY
Sixteen more minutes would have meant a season.
Scoreless into the 74th minute of Messiah's first-round NCAA D-III Men's Soccer Tournament matchup with Medaille, the Falcons' Nick Thompson found the back of the net on a free kick. The goal tied the game at 1-1, setting up overtime 16 minutes later and catalyzing one of the most spectacular runs to any national championship in 2008-09.
Tied with Texas A&M (Division I) and Wartburg (Division III) for the most team national championships in the 2008-09 NCAA year at three, Messiah opened with its men's and women's soccer titles in the fall and closed with a charge through the D-III softball tournament in the spring for its first-ever three-title year.
And although the Falcons managed to actually slip in the Directors' Cup standings - "a down year," joked Messiah athletic director Jerry Chaplin - falling to 14th after an 11th-place finish last year thanks to some massive scores above, its Cup point total of 696.75 is the highest-ever in the school's history.
"I think that our student-athletes tend to raise the bar on themselves," said Chaplin. "They see other teams being successful at the national level and it gives them the belief that they, too, can achieve at that level."
Click here for the interactive brackets: Men's Soccer | Women's Soccer | Softball
The rest of the Men's Soccer Tournament made that first-round game, which the Falcons won with a goal from Geoff Pezon 5:01 into overtime, look easy. Over the next five games, they went into double-overtime three times and, finally - when even two overtimes weren't enough - decided their season against Stevens with a 2-1 win in penalty kicks Dec. 6.
After getting past Medaille, the Falcons shot past Rochester with an early goal for an 1-0 win. Then came Montclair State, which earned a first-round bye and hadn't lost all season, in the Sectional finals.
One-hundred, ten minutes of play later, Montclair's season was over, with Danny Thompson's goal at 4:42 sending the Falcons on and giving the Red Hawks their only loss of the season.
"If the Messiah men's soccer team is not supposed to be alive this far into the 2008 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships, someone has obviously forgotten to notify the Falcons," read the release from Messiah that night.
The next night, Messiah met Christopher Newport in the national quarterfinals. Another double-OT battle followed, this one going into OT after Messiah's J.D. Binger scored with exactly one minute left to play. Twenty-three minutes of play later, the game-winner came once again from Pezon.
After a 3-0 win over Loras in the semifinals, the Falcons battled Stevens to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes. But a 3-0 advantage in penalty kicks (thanks to Nick Blosey's shutout in net) gave Messiah the crown, its sixth-ever national title and fourth in five years.
"During the year, we weren't as highly ranked as they were in other years - we had a couple losses during the year," Chaplin said. "But I believe it's a resolve, that they'll find a way to win. They will not lose. It's hard for teams to develop that."
On the women's side, things were a little easier, with the Falcons tearing through the tournament with a combined 20-1 margin of victory, including a 5-0 dispensation of Wheaton (Ill.) in the final Dec. 6.
The Falcons didn't win a single game by less than two goals. They never trailed. Never even got close.
The opponents fell like the fall leaves. Down went Washington & Jefferson, 6-0 in Messiah's first game. Chicago was the next victim, falling 4-1. Then came the three straight shutouts to seal the title - a 2-0 win over Eastern in the national quarters; a 3-0 win over William Smith in the semis; and, finally, a 5-0 drubbing of defending champs Wheaton in the final, avenging 2007's championship-game loss.
And just like that, Messiah had two national titles within three hours of each other - the sixth all-time for the men's team and second for the women's team. The next championship was to come six months later, when the softball team, led by freshman pitcher Jess Rhoads, looked a whole lot like the women's soccer team in its Tournament.
Going a perfect 4-0 in the Tournament and 8-0 from the start of the postseason, Messiah beat Coe twice in two days to clinch the title on May 18 for its first softball national championship.
Rhoads (28-1 on the year) allowed only one run in the tourney, surrendering the lone one to Ohio Northern in the first round. After that, she made sure that any offensive support would be enough.
The freshman struck out 53 batters over 28 innings in the four games, including 32 between the two Coe matchups. She allowed only four base runners in the final.
"We've had a lot of good pitchers, and we've even had a first-team All-American," Messiah 12th-year head coach Amy Weaver said after the game. "But Jess is the best pitcher that I have ever coached."
