HAVERFORD, Pa. – First-half goals from Jen DiMaria and Natalie Leslie provided an advantage that Haverford College's field hockey team was able to maintain to the final horn against visiting Wesley College at Swan Field Wednesday night as the host Fords downed the Wolverines, 3-1, in non-conference action under the lights.
DiMaria's first of the year came in the 20th minute to give Haverford (2-1) the initial goal of the contest and then Leslie scored three minutes later, her first collegiate goal, to put Wesley (3-3) behind by two a little more than halfway through the opening half.
Goalie Lindsey Lopes had an easy time during the game's first 35 minutes as her Haverford teammates limited the Wolverines to just one shot that sailed wide. Second-half action played more evenly with Lopes coming up big on a stop in the 47th before finally allowing Wesley to halve the lead three minutes later.
The advantage pushed back to two quickly for the Fords, though, as two minutes later Bryn Bissey answered with her second of the season to provide the game with it's final goal of the night.
Lopes did have to make another save, this one coming at the 58:41 mark off a corner opportunity, but the sophomore would earn the victory needing to make only two saves against a team that earlier this season downed Centennial Conference foe McDaniel College which plays the Fords in a league match-up in one month.
Haverford's win over the Wolverines was its fourth in a row against the Delaware school. The Fords were able to limit Wesley's Madison Leone, the Capital Athletic Conference 2012 player of the year, to just one shot and one assist. Catherine Aronowitz and Allison Martin earned the assists on DiMaria's marker which came off a Haverford corner opportunity.
The Fords open up conference play with their next game, Saturday at Swan where Dickinson College will visit for a 1 p.m. contest.