HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team won its home opener against Eastern University, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon. The victory snaps a two-game skid against the Eagles behind a hat trick from Isaac Krier.
Although the score was tied three different, Haverford only trailed for 2:09 of game action. In addition to Krier's three goals, Ben Frost scored twice in the home opener while Stephen DeLeo and Chase Williams each finished with three points as both had a goal and an assist. Dylan Slack picked up his first career win in goal as he stopped 10 of the 16 shots on net from Eastern.
Haverford wasted little time in going to work on Saturday afternoon. Zack Cohen won 12 of his 14 face offs on the day and the Fords scored just 87 seconds into the contest as DeLeo was set up by Chase Williams. The Fords made it 2-0 at the 9:52 mark when DeLeo set up the first of Krier's trio of goals. Nevertheless, Eastern would get both of those back in the first quarter.
The Fords tallied the only goal of the second quarter as Frost collected a ground ball off of a save from the Eastern goalie. The Eagles knotted the score 43 seconds into the third quarter after one of their rare faceoff victories. The visitors took their only lead of the afternoon at the 4:53 mark of the third quarter as Tim Lamb tallied to set the score at 4-3. However, Krier wasted little time as he scored at the 2:44 mark to level the score at four-all.
Williams and Frost gave the Fords the lead for good early in the fourth quarter. Williams tallied just 36 seconds into the period and it would be just under two minutes later that Frost made the score 6-4. The teams then traded goals with Eastern pulling within a goal at the 7:43 mark of the fourth before Krier's fourth goal of the season made the score 7-5 with 1:56 to play in regulation.
Eastern capitalized on a Haverford turnover and scored with 22 seconds to play. The Eagles also won the ensuing faceoff to take possession with a chance to tie. Eastern took a timeout with eight seconds to play to set up one last scoring chance, but a shot at the buzzer traveled well wide of the goal to ensure Haverford's 7-6 victory.
Haverford held a 35-28 advantage in shots throughout the contest but was denied multiple times as Eastern goalie Jameel Hadeed made 19 saves on the afternoon. The Fords also held a 42-28 advantage in ground balls with Cohen's six pickups leading the team for the second straight game. Max Ellis led a defense unit with three caused turnovers on the afternoon.
Men's lacrosse will be back on the road for two games this upcoming week. The Fords travel to Stockton on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. showdown under the lights. Haverford will make the trip to Randolph Macon next Saturday with that game scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m.