ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team scored twice in the first five minutes of Wednesday's Centennial Conference battle with Muhlenberg and never looked back from there in a 14-5 win. The Fords (7-5, 3-2 CC) outscored the Mules (3-10, 0-5 CC) in each of the four quarters and have now moved themselves into a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot in the conference standings with three games remaining in the regular season.
Chase Williams provided nearly half of Haverford's goals as he found the back of the net six times on Wednesday evening. He scored in each quarter, including two in the first and two more in the fourth to bookend his explosive night. Tav Hafner scored three times and added another assist, while Patrick Girard tallied a pair of goals. In a total team effort, twelve of Haverford's 14 goals were assisted. Garret Trucksess, Isaac Krier and Rob McLallen all added three helpers to the final score sheet.
It did not take long for Williams to open up the attack as he scored just 1:07 into regulation time. His first goal was set up by McLallen. Just over three minutes later, McLallen was again putting the offense in motion as he found Hafner for his first goal of the evening. Andrew Dalke and Trucksess connected on a goal that put the Fords up 3-1. Dalke's goal was his fifth of the season. The Mules came back with a pair of goals in a span of just under a minute; however, tallies from Williams and Girard gave Haverford a 5-3 lead after 15 minutes.
The second quarter saw Haverford's defense begin to take over. Muhlenberg tied the game at three-all with 4:46 to play in the opening quarter. The host Mules did not score again until the fourth quarter. By that time, a span of 35:55 in playing time, Haverford had amassed a 10-4 advantage on the scoreboard. Names found throughout the scoresheet were responsible for the second quarter goals as Trucksess found Hafner on a man-up chance to start the quarter. Another assist from McLallen, who fed Williams, set the score at 7-3 heading into halftime.
Williams, Trucksess, and Hafner scored the third quarter goals as Haverford opened a 10-3 advantage. Despite back-to-back goals from Muhlenberg to start the final quarter, the Fords closed the game on a 4-0 run to hold their largest advantage of the night at the final buzzer. In addition to Williams' final two goals of the evening, Girard and Stephen DeLeo also scored to cap the win. With his six-goal outburst, Williams now has a team-best 20 goals scored on the season. McLallen now has a team-high 13 assists on the season after his three helpers on Wednesday.
Haverford's defense limited the Mules to 21 shots, while the Fords' attack unleashed 31 attempts at goal. Eric Caliendo stopped nine of the 14 shots on goal he faced in the victory before giving way to Dylan Slack in the final 3:43 of playing time. In front of the crease, the Fords' defense caused 10 turnovers. Max Ellis was responsible for four of those takeaways, while Mitch Hagan added three more caused turnovers. Ellis also led the team with five groundballs in the win.
Men's lacrosse has its bye scheduled for this Saturday. With the upcoming weekend off, the Fords will have 10 days to prepare for a showdown with third-place Franklin & Marshall. That game is scheduled for Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. on Swan Field.