HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team took down Muhlenberg by a 7-5 score Wednesday night. The Fords outscored the Mules 6-2 over the final three periods to seal the Centennial Conference victory.
Geoff Geppert fueled the Fords' attack with four goals. On top of the quantity, each goal was instrumental in producing the win. Geppert's first tally tied the game before the half. His second goal gave Haverford its first lead of the night to close the third period. The senior captain also scored the eventual game-winning and insurance goals, tallying four of the Fords' final five goals in the victory. Geppert now has a team-high 20 goals this season. Paul Hackett, Jack Bodine and Max Ellis also scored for the victors on Wednesday evening.
Although it was the Fords that were celebrating at the final buzzer, Muhlenberg got the early jump with a 3-1 lead after the opening period. The Mules scored the game's first two goals just over five minutes into the game. Hackett's fifth goal of the season got the Haverford offense started, but Muhlenberg answered with under three minutes to play in the opening period.
The second period belonged to the hosts as Haverford knotted the game at three-all before halftime with two goals. Bodine's ninth goal of the year brought the Fords back within a single goal at the 10:29 mark. Isaac Krier helped out with his fifth assist on the play. Geppert tied the game with 2:36 left in the half.
Muhlenberg retook the advantage midway through the third period, but two goals from the Fords in a span of 2:13 gave them the lead for the first time all night. Ellis answered the Mules' 4-3 edge with his third goal of the season just 1:33 after Muhlenberg had gone ahead. Tav Hafner's second assist of the season allowed Geppert to give Haverford the lead just over two minutes later.
The Mules evened the scored for the third time in the game with 11:10 to play in regulation. Nevertheless, Geppert provided the eventual game-winning goal just 15 seconds after the Mules tied it. After an eight minute defensive deadlock, Geppert tallied the insurance to put his team up by the eventual winning score of 7-5. His final goal came with 2:53 remaining in the contest.
The Haverford defense stood tall all game long in the win. Anchored by 11 saves on Muhlenberg's 16 shots on goal, Eric Caliendo picked up his fourth victory of the season. The Fords also caused 17 turnovers on the evening. Twelve different Haverford players got into the defensive act with PJ Jackson and Brandon Smith leading the way with four and three caused turnovers, respectively.
Forcing numerous free balls, the Fords successfully garnered a 40-27 advantage in ground balls. Smith and Ellis each led the team with four ground ball pickups. Five more players came away with three ground balls as a total of 13 different Haverford players had multiple ground balls for the contest.
With the conference victory under its belt, the men's lacrosse team will have a 10 day break from competition. The Fords will resume Centennial Conference play with a trip to Franklin & Marshall next Saturday, April 18. That clash is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.