SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Haverford Field Hockey team withstood a late comeback from Swarthmore to win a second straight overtime contest, taking down the rival Garnet 3-2 and picking up a Hood Trophy point in the regular season finale for both squads. Haverford improves to 10-7 on the season (6-4 Centennial) with its fifth consecutive win while Swarthmore falls to 5-13 (1-9 Centennial) with the home loss.
Haverford held a dominating 19-2 advantage in first period shots and got on the scoreboard in the 16th minute as Stephanie Terrell hammered home her first goal of the season, scoring unassisted after breaking down the Garnet defense and slipping through the back line. Haverford went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead while Garnet goalkeeper Zelda Bank made nine saves in a valiant effort to keep the Fords to just the one goal in the first 35 minutes of action.
The second half saw Haverford be out shot 12-9, but the Fords came out swinging with an offensive minded strategy in the attacking circle. A key moment for Haverford occured in the 53rd minute with the Fords drawing consecutive penalty corners. On the second attempt, Elena Veale was able to convert, punching in her fifth goal of the season after working to the right of the goal mouth and finishing towards the near post, besting the goalkeeper Bank for a 2-0 lead.
Swarthmore responded to the goal with an immediate timeout, and promptly scored on the very next shot. Jordyn Bell took a pass from Katherine Ianni and finished with a spin move down low in the scoring area, towards the right post to cut the Haverford advantage to just one at 2-1. The Fords kept up the offensive intensity drawing a pair of corners as Terrell had two scoring attempts blocked in the circle. Rachel Gordon fired a 65th minute shot attempt, but Bank made a save on the attempt.
With the Fords looking to close out the contest, it was Swarthmore who controlled the tempo of the waning minutes of regulation, outshooting the Fords 5-0 in the final four minutes of the period. The Garnet broke through again with a 70th minute goal as Melissa Zavez finished off a rebound from an earlier saved shot, besting Rette towards the near post to equalize in the final minute of regulation.
Haverford was thus thrust into in a familiar spot, an overtime game with the seven-on-seven format for the second straight contest. This time, the Fords wasted absolutely no time in ending the contest with a golden-goal strike from Lucy Tortolani in the 71st minute.
Tortolani has been a key contributor throughout her rookie campaign and has seen her goal total soar, with three goals in the past two weeks. She took a pass from Paige Carson, setting up a one-on-one opportunity down low in the circle. The freshman beat Bank with a shot between the legs, sending Haverford to a wild win with the only shot of overtime. In total, only 42 seconds of overtime was played at Clothier Field.
With the win, Haverford picks up the third Hood Trophy point of the season, giving the Fords an early 3-0 advantage in the friendly competition between Tri-Co rivals after cross country outpaced the Swarthmore harriers earlier in the day.
Bank finished with 15 saves while Rette tallied four. Alissa Valentine registered a defensive save. Terrell fired six shots to lead the Fords while McNulty had five. Valentine had four shots off the bench. For Swarthmore, Ursula Monaghan had four shots to lead the Garnet in the category.
Haverford is now assured to finish the season with 10 wins for the sixth time in seven seasons. With the regular season now in rear view, the Fords will quickly turn their focus to the postseason, where fifth-seeded Haverford will square off with fourth-seeded Dickinson in an opening round game of the Centennial Conference Field Hockey tournament on Wednesday in Carlisle, Pa. Game time is still to be announced.