HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team outscored Roger Williams during each of the four quarters on Sunday to emerge a 13-7 winner in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Fords (3-2) got a career day from Stephen DeLeo on the attacking end while the defense never allowed more than two goals in a single quarter against the visiting Hawks (2-2).
DeLeo set a new career high with six points as he tallied four goals in a single game for just the second time in his career and added two assists. Patrick Girard added two goals to the attack as nine different players finished with at least one goal. Eleven players tallied an offensive point. Haverford's defense limited Roger Williams to just 11 shots on goal throughout the entire afternoon as the Hawks turned the ball over 25 times.
The Fords outshot the Hawks by a 39-20 margin, including a 30-10 advantage during the first three quarters of play. Girard opened the scoring just 1:25 into the game while DeLeo tallied his first of the afternoon off an assist from Isaac Krier just over three minutes in to make the score 2-1 after a quick start. DeLeo added his second goal with 4:42 left in the opening quarter off a pass from Kevin Goshorn to make it 3-1 after 15 minutes.
Haverford also scored the first two goals of the second period with Ben Frost and Krier both connecting on their sixth tallies of the season. Just eight seconds after the Hawks broke that 4-0 run, Max Ellis collected a ground ball off a Haverford face off win and raced down field for his first goal of the season and eighth of his career. Roger Williams scored a man-down goal shortly after and Haverford went into the break doubling up the visitors by a 6-3 score.
DeLeo and Girard started the second half in similar fashion to the first as they each scored less than three minutes into the third period. Noah Hollander recorded his fourth assist of the year on the opening goal while Girard has found the back of the net six times this season. Jack Sollee recorded his fourth goal of the year to close Haverford's scoring in the third.
Roger Williams got the game back within two goals, 9-7, following a pair of quick strikes to start the final quarter. Nevertheless, Haverford scored the last four goals to finish off its non-conference victory. DeLeo set up both Garret Trucksess and Anthony Vizzoni to break the Hawks' scoring streak. Vizzoni's goal was the first of his collegiate career. Rob McLallen scored with just over four minutes left in regulation as he and Trucksess both have a pair of goals this season. Trucksess returned the favor to DeLeo on the game's final goal as DeLeo now has nine goals through the team's first five games, including a pair of hat tricks.
Haverford's defense was seemingly all over Roger Williams all day long. Despite the Hawks having the better of the face off X, the Fords caused 15 of the visitor's 25 turnovers. Roger Williams was successful on just seven of its 15 clear attempts. On the other side of the ball, Haverford turned it over just 10 times all game. In addition to his goal, Ellis forced five of those turnovers while Goshorn had a pair of forced giveaways.
Mitch Hagan collected a team-best five ground balls while McLallen came up with four of his own. Sixteen different players picked up a loose ball on Sunday, with 11 players collecting multiple ground balls. Dylan Slack made three saves during his time in goal before Ethan Donlon made his collegiate debut with 1:20 remaining in regulation and stopped the only shot on goal he faced.
Men's lacrosse will now have a week of preparation before it heads out on the road to battle No. 14 Stevens. That game is slated for next Saturday, March 17 with a 12 p.m. face off.