HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team honored its 13 member senior class with a 6-4 victory over Ursinus on Saturday during the team's home finale. In the process, the Fords (6-7, 3-4 CC) took one more step towards locking down a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament.
Defense was the name of the game for Haverford as the host Fords did not allow a goal until midway through the third quarter and did not surrender their second goal until early in the fourth. Dylan Slack made 17 saves in the crease to help preserve the victory. Senior co-captains Isaac Krier and Patrick Girard both scored in the final home games of their careers, while Ben Frost and Brian Geffroy each had two goals in the victory.
Both teams finished the opening half with 14 shots; however, Haverford was the only side that could break through on the scoreboard. The senior co-captains got things started on the attack as Krier found Girard in front of the cage just over three minutes into the contest for an early lead. Girard's goal was his 12th this season. Krier was the recipient of a Frost assist just three minutes later to stake Haverford to a 2-0 lead midway through the first, tallying his 16th goal of the year.
Both defenses locked down after that as neither team scored in the second quarter and the scoreless drought spanned over 31 minutes until the Bears got on the board with 7:29 left in the third quarter. Dylan Slack made eight of his seventeen saves during the first half shutout. As a defensive unit, Haverford caused six turnovers, with senior Jake Ephron's two takeaways leading the way. Seniors Justin Brendel and Max Ellis also had a caused turnover on Saturday. Senior Chandler Todd and Slack each picked up four ground balls during the contest.
After Ursinus cut the lead to just one goal, the Fords scored three times in the final 2:35 of the third quarter. Frost's unassisted goal made it 3-1 before Geffroy scored a pair of unassisted goals just 55 seconds apart. Geffroy now has eight goals this year, including five during the last three contests. Frost scored his 18th goal of the season for Haverford's sixth goal of the afternoon with 2:32 left in regulation to put his team up 6-2. Ursinus scored twice in that remaining time to close the gap, and outshot Haverford 15-7 in the fourth quarter, but five saves from Slack during the final 15 minutes helped ensure that the Fords never trailed on Saturday.
Men's lacrosse will close its regular season with a Hood Trophy meeting at rival Swarthmore next Saturday. That contest is slated for a 3 p.m. face-off.