HAVERFORD, Pa. – Travis Gregory's overtime goal gave the Haverford College men's lacrosse team a thrilling, 8-7, Centennial Conference victory over visiting Franklin & Marshall College Saturday afternoon at Swan Field.
Haverford (7-5, 3-3 CC) never trailed in the contest but three unanswered goals by F&M (5-5, 2-3 CC) over a seven-minute span in the fourth period sent the game into extra time where Gregory's 21st of the season allowed the Fords to escape with the win.
Dillon Hamill caused a turnover, his second of the OT and fourth of the game, after which Grant Firestone picked up the ground ball and led the clear into Diplomats territory. Gregory generated one scoring opportunity missing wide but the Fords retained possession and Zack Cohen found Gregory knifing to the right across top of the arc where he didn't miss the second time round beating F&M goalie Chris Marcozzi 98 seconds into the extra frame.
After a scoreless first period, the Fords opened up a 2-0 lead at the intermission then scored 1:26 into the third for a three-goal advantage.
The teams traded goals to push the score to 4-1 in favor of the home team but F&M chipped away at the lead with successive goals to pull within one midway through the third.
Max Hjelm answered back with his 28th and 29th goals of the season to forge a 6-3 lead for the Fords by the end of the third.
F&M's Shane Brennan found the back of the Haverford net only 47 seconds into the fourth but Cohen netted his sixth of the season three minutes later to restore the three-goal margin with just nine minutes to play in regulation.
The Diplomats roared back with two man-up goals from James Wenk and another score from Brennan in a span of just less than seven minutes that left the game knotted at sevens and heading into overtime where Gregory's heroics awaited.
Haverford registered 14 caused turnovers on the day led by Matt Dooley's five and Hamill's four. The Diplomats, however, held a solid 15-4 edge in faceoffs and were 3-for-5 in extra-man opportunities in the loss.
Joe Banno earned the win in goal for Haverford accumulating 12 saves while Marcozzi took the loss with six saves.
The Fords have won two overtime games in a row and have played in six one-goal decisions so far this season and welcome McDaniel College — a team they beat last year 13-12 in OT during the regular season then 9-8 in the Centennial Tournament semifinals — to Swan Field next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.