BALTIMORE, Md. - The Haverford College men's soccer team fell 2-0 to host Johns Hopkins University in the Centennial Conference opener for both squads Sunday afternoon.
Having upset the Blue Jays in last season's conference semifinals, the Fords (3-3, 0-1 CC) looked to make it two consecutive victories over Johns Hopkins (3-2, 1-0 CC) on its home field.
The two teams battled throughout a tightly played opening stanza. Haverford registered five of the eight total shots taken in the first half but could not get one past Blue Jays goalie Nick Cerrone as the game remained scoreless at intermission.
Johns Hopkins broke through with the initial goal of the contest as Nick White scored off a header almost 15 minutes into the second half. The Fords answered the tally with consistent pressure over the next 10 minutes including three corner kicks from Matt Gorski and several shots by David Robinson but could not come up with the equalizer.
After Josh Hong pushed the Blue Jays' advantage to 2-0 in the 73rd minute, Haverford again responded with offensive pressure. Brady Seitz and Gorski came close to rallying the Fords but Cerrone (3-2) once again stood tall with two of his five saves on the day.
Haverford tallied 15 shots overall and took all nine corner kicks of the contest.
Andriy Mshanetskyy (3-3) made two saves in the loss.
The Fords face the third of four-straight road contests when they make the short trip to Eastern University on Sept. 19 for non-conference action against the Eagles.