GRANTHAM, Pa. – Junior Bri Stokes (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) tied a career high with seven points on five goals and two assists, senior Liza Barr (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) dished out seven assists, and senior Ella Orzechowski (Elkridge, Md./Howard) tallied a career-high four goals as fourth-ranked Gettysburg College opened 2020 with a dominating 19-5 victory at Messiah College Thursday afternoon.
 
Top Performers – Gettysburg

• Bri Stokes '21 – 5 goals, 2 assists
• Ella Orzechowski '20 – 4 goals, assist
• Liza Barr '20 – goal, 7 assists
• Kerry McKeever '21 (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) – 3 goals, assist, 3 draw controls
• Maria Nemeth '20 (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) – 3 goals, assist
• Casey Cole '20 (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) – 8 saves, 4 ground balls, caused turnover

 
Top Performers – Messiah

• Grace Gormley – 2 goals, assist
• Abigail Evans – goal, assist
• Heather Burnham – 8 saves, 3 ground balls

 
How It Happened…

• First Half
  • It didn't take long for Gettysburg to rev up the engines offensively with Nemeth tallying the season's first goal on a feed from Barr just 25 seconds into the game. Nemeth added another tally from Barr less than two minutes later before Messiah picked up its first goal by Gormley.
  • Barr set up Stokes for another goal to make it 3-1. Following a save by Cole, the Bullets came right down the field and scored 20 seconds later with Nemeth once again lighting the lamp.
  • Back-to-back goals by McKeever pushed the advantage to 7-1 before Amanda Wadsworth tallied a goal for the Falcons. Messiah pulled to 9-3 on a goal by Abby Howard, but the Bullets ended the half with three goals. Stokes had a hand in all three, including sliding to the cage on a free-position goal just before the half to push the lead to 12-3.  
• Second Half
  • Gettysburg turned in the first seven goals of the final period, while holding Messiah to just three shots in the first 20 minutes. Orzechowski had a hand in three of the scores, while senior Courtney Patterson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) struck for back-to-back tallies midway through the period. Barr was on the receiving end of a pass from junior Maddy Ruffini (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) to cap the scoring for the Bullets with 9:21 to play.

 
By the Numbers

• Gettysburg led in shots (30-18) and ground balls (18-12), while Messiah won the draw control battle 15-11. The Bullets only committed eight turnovers in the game.
• Stokes tied her personal high for points set last season. She is just 14 points shy of 100 for her career.
• Barr climbed past Hollis Stahl '10 for 12th on the all-time list with 223 career points. Next on the Bullets' career list is Kelsey Markiewicz '14 with 224.
• Orzechowski bested her personal highs for goals and points by one.
• Gettysburg won its season opener for the 20th consecutive campaign. The Bullets have not dropped the opening contest since a 16-10 loss to Mary Washington in 2000.

 
Where the Series Stands
Gettysburg improved to 17-0 in the series with Messiah. The Bullets recorded their biggest win over the Falcons since 2008.
 
Next Up
Gettysburg makes its home debut against Stevenson University this Saturday at 1 p.m.