CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse game at Washington College was a series of runs on Wednesday night. Unfortunately the Fords (6-6, 2-3 CC), the final run favored the host Shoremen (8-4, 3-2 CC) as they scored four of the final five goals in an eventual 13-9 victory on their home field.
Stephen DeLeo scored a career-high four goals to try and will the Fords back into the game and was almost successful as his final goal of the night made the score 9-8 with 10:46 to play before Washington College's late escape. Rob McLallen added a career-high four points to the attack as he scored two goals and assisted on two more. Four Shoremen finished with multi-goal games, led by Tanner Barbieri's hat trick.
The Shoremen scored the first goal just 54 seconds into the game. However, it was Haverford that quickly countered and ran out to a 3-1 advantage in what was tied for the largest lead of the opening half. DeLeo got his first goal of the night at the 12:34 mark on a pass from Patrick Girard. Just two minutes later, DeLeo was back on the attack as Jack Russ set him up at the 10:33 mark. The Fords' three goal spurt was capped at the 8:32 mark of the quarter as PJ Jackson caused a turnover in the defensive end before the possession ended up on the stick of McLallen for his first tally of the evening.
Momentum continued to swing throughout the night and right after the Fords took a 3-1 lead, the Shoremen ran off four straight goals of their own to close the first quarter and open the second. Girard added his second goal of the night to snap the run with his 11th goal of the year at the 10:55 mark of the second quarter. McLallen also netted an unassisted goal with 8:41 remaining in the half to tie the score at five.
Despite Haverford seemingly being in control, the Shoremen rebounded to start their second four goal run of the night. This attacking spurt kept Haverford off the scoreboard for 25:29 of playing time, including the entire third quarter. Trailing 9-5 with 13:53 to go after the most recent host run, Max Ellis picked up a ground ball off of a face off win from Zack Cohen and scored his third goal of the season just six seconds later.
Cohen also won the next two face offs and Washington College did not have a single possession during the time DeLeo made the score 9-8 with goals at the 11:40 and 10:46 marks of the fourth quarter. DeLeo now has 14 goals on the year after Wednesday's scoring outburst. After seeing its lead brought down to a single goal, Washington College called a timeout and quickly regrouped.
With Haverford controlling the restarts at the beginning of the quarter, the Shoremen took control down the stretch and won the game's final six face offs which led to four Shoremen goals. Haverford did get a momentum boost at the 2:55 mark with Ben Frost talling his 17th goal of the season with the help of McLallen, but was unable to sustain any more substantial possessions.
Dylan Slack made eight saves on the night as the Shoremen held just a 34-31 edge in shots. The Haverford defense caused nine turnovers, three of which were forced by Jackson. Four different players collected a team-high three ground balls for the Fords.
Men's lacrosse will return home to Swan Field this Saturday with a huge Centennial Conference clash against Gettysburg looming. That contest will get underway at 3 p.m. as the women's lacrosse team battles the Bullets at 12 p.m. noon. On the men's side, Gettysburg comes into the weekend receiving votes in the national poll and tied with Washington College for the fourth and final playoff position. The Fords are now one game off the playoff pace with three regular season games to play.