Caught the game yesterday between these two heavyweights. It's great that we're getting these "final four" like matchups in the first two weeks of play. Emory/Messiah, Messiah/Hopkins, Hopkins/Emory and Messiah/William Smith. After these four games were played no one came out with an unblemished record. Could easily see some of these matchups again in November.
Back to yesterday's game. I watched a game that provided two completely different approaches to the game. Messiah with their possession and constant attacking style vs. the W/S kick it long to the strong front attacker and hope she can create from there. Both styles were effective as a goal was scored by each. Messiah did miss a penalty kick early in the game. The last half of the game had Messiah doing more of the attacking and W/S just clearing it long. Both goalies each made an outstanding save in the final minutes to keep the game even. The game ended up with Messiah having the clear advantage in shots and corners and for the most part looked like the better team. Like I mentioned before, it's great that these two play each other and for me it's a lot cheaper than having to travel to San Antonio to watch them play.
I saw the Messiah-William Smith game too and I have seen a handful of other games as well and really have not seen a team yet that looks like they have figured out who they are. It is early and maybe some of the New England or Mid West school are further along but I have not seen them. We shall see.