HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's lacrosse team (2-8, 0-3 CC) fell short to No. 5 Gettysburg (8-1, 3-0 CC) on Swan Field, as a 6-0 first quarter run for the Bullets was just enough to hold Haverford at bay in a 14-8 victory in Centennial Conference action.
Andrew Arth was the leading goal scorer for the Fords, as he notched a hat-trick and added an assist. On the forward line, Matt Richards was also a standout with a pair of goals while Will Graves, Eric Dahlberg, and Kolin Brandeis also each found the back of the net. Nate Rose, Simon Dickinson, Jason Borsari, and Reid Tietjen scooped three ground balls. Jacob Abraham matched a career high with 22 saves, adding three ground balls in another standout turn between the pipes, keeping the Fords in the contest and allowing the offense to take risks knowing they had a solid presence in goal.
Gettysburg took the wind out of the Haverford sails early, methodically building a 6-0 advantage with a dominating first stanza. Kyle Howard added a pair of strikes in that stretch, and assisted on another as Ethan Kessler scored the first and last goals of the run. Haverford went back to work to open the second, determined to climb back into the contest with Arth and Richards teaming up on a pair of tallies, with each recording a goal and an assist as the lead was suddenly just 6-2 with 11:54 left in the half.
The Bullets went back on the offensive with a 4-0 run to close the half, as more players got into the scoring fold. George Raymond, Howard, and Aidan Wykoff were still doing much of the offensive heavy lifting to help the visitors build the advantage.
With an eight-goal cushion at intermission, Gettysburg looked content to cruise to the win, but Haverford had other plans immediately. Dahlberg, Graves, and Brandeis each tallied in succession as the Fords climbed back to within six at 11-5 with 2:07 to go. Richards had a pair of assists in the stretch.
A 3-0 Gettysburg run later gave the Bullets a commanding advantage, up nine with 8:24 to play, but Haverford remained poised, closing the contest on a 3-0 scoring run behind a pair of goals from Arth and Richards tallying off a Dahlberg assist with 1:43 to play in regulation.
Teddy Carlin won four times at the X, while Drew Buck (2) and Alexander Wysk (1) also contributed to the face-off effort. Defensively, six different Fords recorded a caused turnover in the contest.
Abraham continues what has quickly become a eye-popping season in goal, as he now has 103 saves on the season, and leads the Centennial Conference in save percentage (58.5).
The Fords will now return to play on Saturday, April 8, as the squad heads to No. 19 Ursinus for a 12 p.m. opening face-off with the Bears in Collegeville.