HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's lacrosse team (3-3) was defeated in a back-and-forth thriller on Swan Field Saturday afternoon, falling to the Susquehanna River Hawks (5-1) by a 10-9 final.
A season-high five goals by Evan Wolpert paced the Fords in scoring, while Reid Tietjen, Will Graves, and D'Andre Chaney also got onto the scoresheet for the Scarlet and Black.
In a tight defensive battle, Haverford's Danny Hoehler was an anchor along the backline, causing seven turnovers, the most in a Haverford game since the 2013 season when Scott Chanelli added nine, while scooping up four ground balls.
Of the 35 ground balls collected by the Fords, Ronan West and Matt Richards both gathered five each. In what was a busy day between the pipes, Jacob Abraham turned away 10 shots.
In the faceoff circle, the Scarlet and Black won 10-of-21 draws, with Teddy Carlin winning seven faceoffs, and Drew Buck coming away with three.
In a low scoring first quarter, Wolpert and the Fords struck first with a goal at the 6:55 mark to go up 1-0. Susquehanna then countered by closing out the first quarter with two goals in the final 60 seconds to take a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
The River Hawks continued their scoring surge in the second stanza, by recording two more strikes, including a man-up goal, to go up 4-1 with 6:35 remaining in the first half. Haverford then snapped the 4-0 scoring run by the River Hawks with a Tietjen goal at 2:46, followed by Graves' lone goal of the contest to pull within one at 4-3 heading into halftime.
At 11:50 in the third period, Brennan Lorence gave the visitors a small two-goal cushion with a tally to put his squad up 5-3. The Scarlet and Black then began to go on a tear, as Wolpert continued his memorable day by firing two goals within a minute span, tying the game at 5-5 with 8:05 to go in the third stanza. Haverford then took their second lead of the game, as Chaney's unassisted goal at the 6:27 mark gave the Fords a 6-5 advantage.
After a man-up goal from Lorence leveled the contest at six with 1:38 to go in the third, Tietjen lit the lamp with 1:05 left in the third quarter to give the hosts a 7-6 edge going into the final 15 minutes.
The visitors then flipped the switch on the Fords, going on another 4-0 scoring run with two goals from Lorence and two goals from Nick Remund to take a three-goal advantage at 10-7, with just 2:17 left on the scoreboard.
Haverford didn't go down with a fight, however, as Wolpert unleashed two quick goals within a remarkable twenty seconds to pull within onel with 42 seconds left.
Needing one more possession to have a chance, Hoehler was able to cause a big time turnover that was scooped up by Buddy Pelish, prompting a Haverford timeout with just 14 ticks remaining. Out of the timeout, a promising Fords' attack was halted by the stifling defense of Susquehanna, as the River Hawks were able to escape Swan Field with the narrow victory.
Men's Lacrosse will next be in action on Friday, March 15 as the Fords make the trip up to Madison, N.J. to participate in the two-day Leanos Cup. The tournament field also features No. 17 Stevens, Drew, and Rhodes. Haverford will face off against the Ducks of Stevens at 3 p.m. on Friday.