HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team was knocking on the doorstep of its first conference victory of the season Saturday in an overtime battle with McDaniel. However, for the second straight overtime contest it was the visiting team that walked away with the win as the Fords were topped by the Green Terror, 4-3, 1:08 into the extra period.
Saturday's game was a true back-and-forth contest as the Fords never trailed in regulation, but also could not distance themselves more than a single tally from McDaniel. The Green Terror's overtime winner off the stick of Patrick Serio was the first time the visitors led all afternoon.
Despite the low scoring defensive battle, the Fords were able to penetrate the Green Terror defense just over two minutes into the contest when Jack Bodine scored his sixth goal of the season on assist from Isaac Krier. Haverford held that lead for just over five minutes before McDaniel provided its first answer of the day.
Haverford took a 2-1 lead into the second period when Patrick Girard scored his seventh goal of the season off an assist from Geoff Geppert. This time it was 4:24 of playing time before the Green Terror came up with the equivalent goal from Serio. The Fords led 3-2 in the second period after Geppert tallied his team-leading 14th goal of the season, but McDaniel answered a third time with a goal just 5:27 later as Sean Brett tallied his second goal of the game.
With the score tied at three-all heading into halftime, the defenses both locked down in the second half as neither team scored for a span of 33:32 before the overtime game-winner. Haverford was presented with an extra man opportunity with 2:33 to play when McDaniel was called for too many players on the field. However, Haverford sent its only shot high during the 30 second chance. The Fords also had a great chance to score when Geppert picked up a ground ball in the defensive zone and carried it the full length of the field only to see his shot saved with 1:23 remaining in the contest.
Brandon Smith took all 11 face offs for Haverford. He won seven of those draws, including the one to start the overtime. Nevertheless, McDaniel's defense forced the turnover and just seconds after collecting the ground ball scored the game-winner 1:08 into the extra period.
During a dominant defensive effort, Haverford forced McDaniel into 21 turnovers, 13 of which were caused. On top of his 12 saves in goal, Eric Caliendo caused a team-high three turnovers. Sommer Stein and Max Ellis also caused a pair of turnovers. The Fords also had a 32-26 edge in ground balls. Caliendo led his team with seven ground ball pickups.
Men's lacrosse will now have a full week of preparation before heading to Dickinson next Saturday. That Centennial Conference clash is slated to start at 3 p.m.