CHESTERTOWN, Md.. - The Haverford College men's lacrosse team (2-7, 0-2 CC) suffered a tough away loss on Wednesday evening, falling to host Washington College (8-2, 2-0 CC) by a score of 14-11. The game went back and forth for three periods before the Shoremen pulled away in the final ten minutes to claim the victory.
Reid Tietjen led the Fords on Wednesday, and finished the game with a hat-trick on six shot attempts while Andrew Arth registered two goals to go along with two ground balls and a caused turnover.
On the defensive end, Haverford received key contributions from Buddy Pelish and Eric Dahlberg, who both caused two turnovers each. The pair each also added four ground balls.
The Shoremen struck first with a goal three minutes into the game. However, it was a short-lived lead as Jason Borsari found himself wide open at midfield taking the feed from goalie Jacob Abraham the rest of the way to score the equalizer.
The hosts allowed a few more chances from the visiting Fords but luckily came out unscathed. Washington College transferred some of that fortune to the offensive end of the field to retake the lead at the 6:09 mark, with Ewan Temple scoring the goal.
Drew Hoffman evened the score at two with a little over a minute left to play in the period but again, the Shoremen answered, this time with just one second remaining on the clock to take a 3-2 lead into the second period.
Borsari continued to be the unlikely hero for the Fords, netting his second goal of the game three minutes into the second period. The game was tied again and the back-and-forth action had no signs of slowing down any time soon. The Shormen took the lead once again with a goal from Brady McFalls at the 11:01 mark, but Will Graves responded quickly with his tenth goal of the season.
A Fords penalty came at 7:08 and the hosts capitalized on the man-up opportunity with Ben Dickinson scoring off the feed from Ewan Temple. The game then saw its fifth tie of the first half after Tietjen scored following a timeout. The assist went to Andrew Arth, his eighth of the season.
The first half ended with the score even at six with Nate Rose tying the game after the Shoremen took the lead for the sixth time. Abraham stood between the pipes putting in his usual stand-out performance in the nightcap. The sophomore recorded ten saves in the first half to keep the Fords in the game.
Haverford finally earned the lead it craved in the first half. Washington College opened up the second half with a goal but back-to-back goals gave the Fords an 8-7 lead. Andrew Arth and Matt Richards provided the tallies with Jonathan Moon providing the assist for Richards' goal.
Three unanswered goals from the Shoremen gave the hosts a two-goal lead, the largest of the day, but Haverford stayed aggressive and pulled a goal back late in the third period to head into the final period down at just one 10-9.
Unfortunately, Washington College took control of the game behind a strong fourth period. The hosts outscored Haverford 4-2 after Tietjen tied the game at ten to start the period. The Fords could only manage one more goal in the final ten minutes and that goal came from Matt Richards, his second of the contest.
Abraham continues to shine For the Fords this season, as he now ranks top five in the conference in saves after recording a career-high 20 saves against the Shoremen. The sophomore also finished the game with a 58.8 percent save percentage, a tick above his season average of 57.9 percent. Richards scooped a game-best 7 ground balls while Borsari added six. Teddy Carlin grabbed 10 wins at the face-off X while Drew Buck contributed a pair.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Fords as they look ahead towards a home matchup with No. 5 ranked Gettysburg on Saturday, April 1. The game is scheduled to start at noon and will also be the Mental Awareness Game in conjunction with the Centennial Conference and The Hidden Opponent.