SWARTHMORE, Pa. - In what served as a defacto play-in game for the Centennial Conference tournament, the Haverford College field hockey team (8-9, 5-5 CC) outlasted rival Swarthmore (9-8, 4-6 CC) in an overtime thriller at Clothier Field, punching its ticket to the playoffs with a 1-0 victory on a golden goal from Delaney Snowden in the 69th minute of play.
After the two sides were scoreless at the end of 60 minutes of a well-paced and well-executed regulation that saw almost no margin for separation between historic foes, the seven-on-seven sudden victory overtime period proved to be nerve wracking for both sides as the open, faster-paced style of play made penalty corners exceptionally dangerous for the suddenly short-handed defensive units.
After the Fords successfully defended a corner try in the 64th minute and again denied Swarthmore in the 66th minute, the Fords earned their first penalty corner opportunity of the bonus period in the 68th minute, with Snowden firing a shot on goal that was saved deftly by Cassandra Conklin. The redirection also found the stick of Snowden, who fired wide Just under a minute later, Haverford earned yet another offensive corner, with Zoey Despines inserting towards the top of the circle where Snowden rocketed in her seventh goal of the season, ricocheting through the defensive line and into the back of the cage towards the near post.
The goal set off a raucous celebration as Haverford not only picked up a crucial Hood Trophy point with the victory, but returned to the postseason for the second consecutive season by virtue of the exhilarating win. Haverford owned a 15-8 advantage in shots over the course of the game, and a 10-5 edge in penalty corners.
Swarthmore had chances throughout the contest but Mary Smith did well to deal with some of the Garnet salvos while the Haverford defense seemingly put itself in perfect position to deny the hosts. Dalia Bercow and Snowden each put four shots on frame, with Cassandra Conklin finishing on the wrong side of a seven-save effort.
The victory avenged Haverford's loss to Swarthmore in the opening round of last season's conference tournament. As for the regular season series, Haverford has now staked its 23rd win in the all-time series, which the regionally-ranked Garnet still leads by a 27-22-1 margin. This was the first overtime contest between the two sides since a 3-2 Haverford win on Clothier FIeld in 2016.
Sixth-seeded Haverford now opens its second consecutive Centennial Conference postseason run on Tuesday, November 1 at third-seeded Bryn Mawr. The contest with the Owls, the first postseason meeting between the Bi-Co neighbors, is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Applebee Field. More information on the CC tournament will be finalized on Monday's conference calls.