Box Score

Aldridge tallied the lone goal off a throw in from Brendan Cain (Derwood, MD/Bethesda-Chevy Chase) to help Gettysburg (6-2) defeat the defending national champions and post their first back-to-back victories against the Falcons (5-2-2) since the 1992-93 seasons.

Freshman John Ward (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) kept Messiah off the board with five saves to record his fourth shutout of the season.

Matt Bills and Andre Burckhart each tallied a team-high two shots while Chris Vincent made one stop for the Falcons.

The Bullets broke through the relentless pressure from Messiah in the 37th minute to hand the Falcons their second loss of the season while extending its winning streak to six.

Cain, who came off the bench at the 34:27 mark, took a throw in from 30 yards out and put the ball at the top of the six-yard line. Aldridge made his way over the Falcon defenders to head the ball down and into the right corner of the frame for his first goal of the season.

The Gettysburg defense, which has shut out their last two opponents, did the same to Messiah by holding them to seven shots.

The Falcons grabbed the momentum back in the second half, but came up empty handed in the end despite several scoring opportunities.

Ward saved Bills' right-footed shot on a direct kick in the 27th minute and them came up with Burckhart's bending shot to the left corner of the goal in the 42nd minute.

Messiah tried to match Gettysburg's long throw in with 4:37 left in the game, only to be cleared out by the Bullet defense.

Gettysburg returns to action on Saturday against Ursinus. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

Scoring
G - Ryan Aldridge (Brendan Cain) 1, 36:15

Shots: M 7, G 2. Corner Kicks: M 6, G1. Fouls: M 3, G 12. Saves: M 1 (Chris Vincent), G 5 (John Ward).

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