HAVERFORD, Pa. – Playing to keep its Centennial Conference playoff hopes afloat, the Haverford College men's soccer team pulled out a 1-0 victory over visiting Washington College Thursday afternoon at a sun-drenched Walton Field. David Restrepo came up with the game-winner in the 88th minute.
Haverford (8-5-2, 4-3-1 CC) had its patience tested throughout the contest, especially in the waning minutes. The Fords attempted 24 shots in the game with 16 coming in the second half. It seemed that every time HC had possession in the final 30 minutes they came close to scoring. Three different times the Fords nearly broke through.
In the 61st minute, David Robinson broke past the Shoremen's back line, but his shot from 15 yards out sailed wide left. Six minutes later looked like another golden opportunity, but Washington keeper Chris Phipps dove to intercept a Fords' cross. Haverford looked to have finally broken through in the 74th minute. Restrepo beat Phipps, making a move to his left and had nothing but an open goal in front of him, but out of nowhere Tim Marcin got his foot between the ball and the goal to make a team save and preserve the tie.
The Fords were determined to find pay dirt before the final horn sounded, but had to endure a scare from Washington (4-11-1, 1-7-0 CC) with eight minutes left before doing so. Josh Goheen's tracer was out of the reach of a diving Nick Kahn but hit the cross bar and bounced out of play. Once the Fords regained possession they moved the ball up field and their patience paid off as Alejandro Rettig y Martinez sent a pass across the goal to Restrepo on the left-hand side for his team-leading seventh goal.
Both goalkeepers had busy days. Phipps made nine saves in the loss while Kahn had seven for his first collegiate win.
The victory assures Haverford of its first winning season since 2000 (10-7) and is the most wins since the 2003 squad won seven.
The Fords sit in sixth place in the conference with 13 points and travel to archrival No. 9/8 Swarthmore College to close out the regular season Saturday at 7 p.m.