HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team sent the seven members of its senior class out on winning note with a 14-8 victory against rival Swarthmore in the final game of the 2015 season. With all seven seniors – Jack Bodine, Brandon Boccellari, Andrew Fenaroli, Geoff Geppert, Victor N'Diaye, Alejandro Vega, and Will Weissberg – in the starting lineup, Haverford used a 10-0 run that spanned midway from the second period until midway through the fourth period to notch the Hood Trophy point.
Fittingly enough, it was Geppert that paced the Haverford attack with four goals and two assists on the afternoon. Bodine and Weissberg also added goals for the senior class. Jack Sollee, Patrick Girard and Tav Hafner each scored two goals in Saturday's contest, while Max Ellis and Jack Russ also scored in the victory.
The rivalry contest got off to a quick start with three goals in the opening four minutes. The Garnet scored the first of those two goals, but Geppert settled down the pace with his first of the afternoon on a feed from Hafner to make it a 2-1 game. Geppert later scored unassisted to tie the game at 2-2. Swarthmore's mini run came shortly after with four straight goals to go up 6-2 with nine minutes left in the second quarter.
Just when momentum looked to be leaning towards the Garnet, the Fords put the game completely on its head with 10 goals within a playing span of 28:40. Even more remarkable was the fact that Haverford did not concede a single goal during that stretch. When Geppert wasn't finishing the goals, the senior was setting up the Fords' attack as he reciprocated the early assist from Hafner, who scored a pair of second period goals. In between those two goals was an unassisted tally from Girard. Those goals left the Fords trailing, but with the momentum despite a 6-5 deficit at the half.
The third period saw several individuals step up and try to send the Fords out on a winning note with three unassisted goals. Russ' second goal of the season tied the game with 7:55 to go in the period. Just over two minutes later, Weissberg added the eventual game-winning goal on his Senior Day. Sollee's fifth goal of the season made it 8-6 heading into the final 15 minutes.
The Fords made extra sure not to let their first lead of the afternoon slip away. That point was brought home by four goals to start the final period of play. Bodine got into the scoring act on Senior Day just 51 seconds into the period off an assist from Kevin Goshorn. Geppert, Ellis and Girard promptly followed that goal with three more unassisted tallies to run the Haverford advantage all the way up to 12-6.
The visiting Garnet got two of those goals back, but Haverford answered right away with two goals over the span of just 52 seconds. Geppert's team-leading 25th goal of the season came with 6:59 to play in regulation. After scoring in the third, Girard set up Sollee's sixth goal of the season to close the scoring with 6:07 on the clock.
Anchoring the defense in his fifth win of the season, Eric Caliendo saved 10 shots from Swarthmore's attack. Haverford also forced Swarthmore into 21 turnovers, 17 of which were caused by the Fords' defense. Weissberg was central in that effort with a team-best three caused turnovers. Brandon Smith and Geppert each finished with two on the afternoon.
When the ball was loose, Haverford held a 36-24 advantage in ground ball pickups. Mitch Hagan and Caliendo each had seven ground balls in the game. Geppert and Weissberg finished with four and three ground balls, respectively. Also helping out the defensive effort were a caused turnover and ground ball from both Bodine and N'Diaye.