HAVERFORD, Pa. – An early goal from Catherine Aronowitz allowed Haverford College's field hockey team to take a one-goal lead over Ursinus College but the visiting Bears scored four unanswered goals to down the Fords, 4-1, in Centennial Conference action under the lights of Swan Field on Wednesday evening.
The loss drops Haverford's conference mark to 1-2 and its overall record moves to 5-4 on the year while Ursinus improves to 4-1 in the league and 6-2 overall.
Ursinus was on the attack early gaining the game's first two penalty corner chances along with the first shot of the contest, but pressure from Aronowitz in the Haverford attacking zone set up the contest's first tally.
Aronowitz got off a shot that Ursinus goalie Danielle DeSpirito was able to save but in the ensuing action the Fords earned their own penalty corner opportunity.
After inserting the ball, Aronowitz raced in along the goal line to the front of the cage where she broke free from the defense and pounded a shot into the back of the goal off a feed from Jen DiMaria in the 11th minute.
Neither team generated a scoring chance over the next two minutes but at the 13:17 mark the Bears would find the equalizer with Maddie Craig notching her first of the year for Ursinus to tie the score at 1-1.
Ursinus racked up five consecutive penalty corners, but only two shots, after Craig's goal but the fifth time was the charm as Stephanie Cooper eventually scored her ninth of the year following that fifth chance to hand the visitors their first lead of the contest at the 25:38 mark.
Haverford trailed only by a count of 2-1 at the intermission but were forced to play a majority of the second half short-handed by virtue of five cards meted out by the referees. Ursinus, without a card in the half, was able to pad its lead with two more tallies during the second stanza.
Lindsey Lopes registered eight saves in the cage for Haverford but took the loss while DeSpirito came up with two saves to earn the win.
The Fords continue conference action with their next game, a Saturday afternoon contest in Lancaster, Pa., against host and second-ranked Franklin & Marshall College.