GLENSIDE, PA:  (Oct. 9, 2010) -  Arcadia University Men's Soccer held the defending league and national champion Messiah College Falcons off the scoreboard with sound defensive play but a Falcon goal with eight minutes to play in regulation was enough to decide today's Commonwealth Conference men's soccer battle.  Messiah improves to 10-1 (1-0 CC) with the 1-0 victory while the Knights drop back to 6-6 (1-1 CC).  First year keeper Ryan Lantzy (Pheonixville, PA/Pheonixville) had a standout performance making 6 saves in the loss for Arcadia.

Messiah set the tone early, needing but thirty five seconds to register the game's first shot, which Geoff Pezon sent high over Arcadia's goal.  The Falcons connected on another minutes later, this time missing wide left.  Arcadia thwarted off the Falcons early momentum with strong play through the midfield that eventually led to the game's first shot on goal, off the foot of Arcadia senior Joe Clementi  (Medford Lakes, NJ/Shawnee) but Messiah keeper Jake Berry kept the Knights off the board. 

Lantzy would be tested minutes later when Logan Thompson forced the Knight's keeper to make a save.  In the 25th minute of play Arcadia's Ethan Armstrong (Wissahickon, PA/Wissahickon) found room down the left side and left footed a shot from ten yards out but the shot just missed the high left corner.  The Knights, who led 4-3 in first half shots, would generate the final two scoring chances of the half with shots by sophomore Zach Todd (Cape May, NJ/Middle Twp.) and senior Jeff McDonald (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge), both stopped by Berry to preserve a scoreless game at the half. 

Arcadia saturated the pitch with timely defending while Messiah continued to press their attack but Lantzy continued to protect Arcadia's net, as the first year keeper played like a veteran against a well-oiled Messiah engine, turning aside four different Falcons in the second half to preserve the scoreless game into the 80th minute of play.  The Falcons would be awarded a corner with 9 minutes remaining.  The corner kick sailed just feet from the ground and the Knights were able to head the ball away but another corner resulted and this time, Messiah capitalized.  Tom Renco scored at 81:20, sending the eventual game winning shot into the top of the net giving Messiah a 1-0 lead with less than eight minutes remaining.  Lantzy made one final save to finish with 6 while Berry made 3 stops for the Falcons.  The Falcons finished with a 15-6 advantage in shots and a 7-1 margin in corners. 

Today's loss snaps a three game win streak for the Knights who return to their home field and Commonwealth play, hosting Widener University this Tuesday at 4 PM.