HAVERFORD, Pa. – Four consecutive goals to open the game helped Haverford College's men's lacrosse teams down visiting Trinity (Conn.) College, 10-9, Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference match-up at Swan Field.
The Fords (3-3) broke out front on goals by Geoff Geppert, Henry Millson , Dan LoSardo and Christian Clay and headed into the second period with a 4-0 lead over the Bantams (1-3), who opened the spring in the top 15 of the preseason national rankings.
As the rest of the day would play out, though, Trinity would not go down quietly as the visitors netted three unanswered to cut into the advantage and eventually headed into the halftime break trailing the Fords by just one at 5-4.
As with the opening 15 minutes of action, Haverford dominated the third period getting consecutive goals from Jake Maldonado, Jack Bodine and John Schipper to push out to an 8-4 edge. Trinity finally broke the string on a goal from Nick Shaheen with six seconds left in the period, but Clay beat the horn to end the period with his 16th goal of the year to restore the four-goal lead.
When LoSardo notched his second of the day, this one coming at the 11:37 mark of the fourth period, to answer a Bantams marker from Rob Nogueras earlier in the period, it looked like the Fords would finally be able to lock down the victory.
Trinity's preseason ranking certainly wasn't without merit, however, as the Bantams clawed back to within a goal as the clock ticked toward one minute remaining in the game. Schipper won the ensuing faceoff following Trinity's last goal and Haverford easily ran out the clock after a pair of slashing calls against Trinity defenders.
Eric Caliendo was solid in goal for the Fords coming up with seven saves on the day, five of which came in the final frame of Tuesday's game. Riley Cahill took the loss between the pipes for the Bantams surrendering all 10 goals while coming up with eight saves.
Haverford won the 'hard work' battle coming up with 43 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers compared to 36 pick ups and four caused turnovers by the visitors.
LoSardo led the Fords with three goals but the offense was spread across the attackers as seven different players notched a goal for Haverford. Clay netted two and added three assists for a team-high five-point day.
Trinity's Shaheen led all scorers with four goals, getting a lot of help from teammate Chase Growney who finished with six assists.
Haverford heads into Centennial Conference action with its next game, making a trip Saturday to Gettysburg College to take on the 12th-ranked Bullets at 3 p.m.