WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team used another shutdown defensive second half to rally past McDaniel on Saturday afternoon. The Fords (5-5, 1-2 CC) trailed 4-3 at the half before a 3-1 third quarter edge pushed them past the host Green Terror (2-8, 0-3 CC) by the eventual 6-5 final.
Eric Caliendo starred for the Haverford defense as he made 19 saves during 24 shots on goal. His counterpart, Eric Ritchie, stopped 11 of the 17 shots he faced. Tav Hafner was the only two-goal scorer for Haverford. Garret Trucksess had a goal and an assist, while Isaac Krier, Ben Frost, and Chase Williams also tallied in the victory.
Hafner wasted little time in opening up the attack for the Fords. After the Haverford defense forced the Green Terror into an early turnover, Hafner connected on his second shot of the game to make the score 1-0 just under two minutes in. Trucksess was credited with his fifth assist of the season on the play. The teams then went nearly 13 full minutes without a goal before the Green Terror evened the contest with just 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Eric Caliendo made 17 of his 19 saves in the final three quarters. However, McDaniel gained its first advantage of the contest with 10:36 remaining in the half. Nevertheless, Haverford answered right at the nine minute mark with Ben Frost tallying his second goal of the season.
The two sides continued to create chances as McDaniel went up 3-2 just under 90 seconds after being tied, but the Fords' Chase William deadlocked the game at three-all just 46 seconds after a Zack Cohen face off win. Williams's goal was his 13th of the season and came off of Kevin Goshorn's sixth helper of the season. The Green Terror ultimately carried their 4-3 advantage into the break following a goal that came with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
The Fords retook the lead with a pair of goals just over two minutes apart during the third quarter. Krier's 16th goal of the season off of Rob McLallen's 10th assist tied the game at four-all. Hafner then gave the Fords a 5-4 edge on his eighth goal of the season. McDaniel tied the game for the last time with 1:43 remaining in the third. However, Trucksess' third goal of the season proved to be the game-winning tally with 1:04 remaining in that quarter.
With a one goal lead heading into the final 15 minutes, Caliendo was challenged early and often as he was called on to make six saves in the fourth quarter. Five of those chances came in the first five-plus minutes of the quarter. He stopped each of those attempts and made his final save of the game at the four minute mark to preserve the victory.
In addition to his saves, Caliendo finished second on the team with four ground balls on the afternoon. He was second only to Cohen's team-high five pickups. Cohen finished the game with most of his ground balls off of an 8-of-14 effort at face offs.
With its first Centennial Conference victory of the season, the men's lacrosse team will return home next Saturday to battle No. 17 Dickinson. That game on Swan Field is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will be part of a doubleheader with the women who are hosting the Red Devils at noon.