Final Score: Hartwick 0, Messiah 3
 
Venue: Grantham, PA – Shoemaker Field
 
Records: Hartwick (0-2); Messiah (2-0-1)
 
Recap: Defending national champion and top-ranked Messiah defeated Hartwick men's soccer by a 3-0 final score on Wednesday at Shoemaker Field. Nick West gave the Falcons the lead on a free kick 8:26 into the contest, but the Hawks kept the hosts out for the rest of the half and entered the break down just 1-0. Samuel Ruiz Plaza and Justin Brautigam tallied 4:57 apart to extend the Messiah advantage to three with 35 minutes left to play, but it would be all the scoring the Hawks would allow. Goalkeeper Jack Riordan (East Stroudsburg, PA/East Stroudsburg) made seven saves in goal for Hartwick. Hatim Brahimi (Franklin, MA/Franklin) registered the Hawks' lone shot.

John Scott Quotes: "We showed signs of improvement tonight and against a better team than we played at the weekend.  Our team is definitely developing the right mentality and with more experience we're optimistic that this season can be a solid building block for better things to come.  Right now though, we'll keep working hard with a view to improving with next week's home game on the horizon. 
 
Game Notes: Messiah has won 11 of the last 18 NCAA Division III championships dating back to 2000 including its eleventh last fall.
 
Up Next: Hartwick travels to Division II American International on Friday, September 7. Kickoff is 7 p.m.