HAVERFORD, Pa. – The nation's fourth-ranked team had all it could handle from host Haverford College in men's lacrosse action Wednesday at Swan Field where visiting Washington College escaped with an 11-10 Centennial Conference victory over the host Fords.
Haverford (3-5, 0-2 CC) never faced a deficit larger than two goals and owned a lead over the Shoremen (8-0, 2-0) on five occasions, including four times in the third and fourth periods. Washington scored a tying goal at the 9:21 mark of the fourth then netted the game-winner with 31 seconds to play to squash the upset bid.
The visitors earned a quick lead with a goal by faceoff specialist Michael Trapp just 10 seconds into Wednesday's contest. However, the momentum built by the early goal was wrested over to Haverford's bench when Jack Bodine, off a feed from Scott Chanelli, found the equalizer for the Fords less than three minutes later.
Washington answered with a go-ahead goal at the 10:39 mark but consecutive Haverford goals, the first from Geoff Geppert and the second from Bodine, gave the home team a 3-2 lead at the end of the initial 15 minutes of action.
Three unanswered goals from the Shoremen within the first four minutes of the second period could have potentially put the game away for the nationally-ranked visitors, but Haverford repeated the tone of battling back set early in the game getting a goal from Henry Millson to end the Shoremen's streak.
Though Washington would add another score with 62 seconds left in the half to push its cushion back to two, Christian Clay kept the pressure on the visitors by netting a goal, his 17th of the season, with 28 seconds remaining which allowed the Fords to head into the intermission, though trailing by a goal, on a high note.
Clay's marker clearly tilted the momentum in Haveford's favor as the Fords broke out of the halftime break by scoring the opening two goals of the third period.
Jake Maldonado's goal four minutes in tied the game, 6-6, and Clay's man-up goal at the 7:52 mark put the Fords in the lead for the first time since late in the first period.
The teams traded goals three times over the next 12 minutes with the Shoremen netting a tying goal only to fall behind again after a Haverford score.
Bodine's third tally of the contest, this one with an assist from Dan LoSardo, allowed Haverford to move in front, 10-9, with a little more than 10 minutes remaining, but Kodie Engleheart scored the tying goal a minute later.
Over the final ten minutes of action, the Fords accumulated six shots and hit the post once while Washington registered five shots including Hunter Nowicki's game-winner on what would be the final shot of the game.
Haverford led the Shoremen in shots (41-37), ground balls (41-32) and saves (9-7), forced Washington into three more turnovers than the Fords on the day, and held the Shoremen's extra-man offense scoreless on six tries.
Chanelli, fifth in the nation in caused turnovers per game (3.57), registered a game-high nine in the loss while also coming up with a team-best eight ground balls. Goalie Eric Caliendo (3-5) made nine saves between the pipes in the Fords' defensive end.
In the attacking zone, Bodine netted a team-best three goals while Clay and Geppert added two apiece.
McDaniel College comes to Swan Field for Haverford's next outing, a Centennial contest on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m.