HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team nearly came back from a 2-0 deficit during the second day of the Jimmy Mills Classic against Rutgers-Newark, but ultimately fell by a 3-1 final score. The Fords (2-1) cut a 2-0 deficit in half during the second half and had the equalizer waived off just moments later. Even with that goal disallowed, the Scarlet Raiders (3-2) still needed two team saves from its defense in the second half before scoring a late insurance goal with just over five minutes to play.
Rutgers-Newark took the early lead when Raphael Araujo broke through into the 18 and finished his shot to the lower left hand side in the 21st minute. His unassisted tally was his fifth goal in as many games this season. The Scarlet Raiders carried that lead into halftime, but quickly added to their lead out of the break with another unassisted goal in the 51st minute of play. Off a mad scramble following a corner kick, Hubert Dul headed home the second goal of the contest, giving his squad a 2-0 lead.
Haverford's offense began to find some cracks in the Scarlet Raiders' defense after finding itself in a 2-0 deficit. The Fords earned a pair of corner kicks after the second goal and would take advantage on their second chance. With Will Corkery putting the ball into play, his kick found the head of Maclyn Willigan. Willigan's goal was the first of the sophomore's career and cut the deficit to a single goal, 2-1, during the 63rd minute of play.
The Fords continued the offensive pressure and thought they had the equalizer when Tejan Walcott took possession from the Scarlet Raiders' keeper. Walcott finished the shot, but the goal would be waived off after some discussion as a foul was whistled by the side linesman prior to the goal.
After the potential game-tying goal was waived off, the Fords continued the offensive surge as William Edwards hit the crossbar on his header off another corner try in the 66th minute. Rutgers-Newark would also need to make team defensive saves by the back line in the 69th and 74th minutes of play to preserve the one goal advantage.
After surviving multiple close calls in the second half, the Scarlet Raiders padded their lead with a goal in the 85th minute of play. This time, Edger Abreu finished a header off a crisp series of passing to put Haverford in a 3-1 hole with just over five minutes to play. The Fords earned one final corner try and sent a shot wide in the final five minutes, but ultimately fell by that 3-1 score at the final buzzer.
Shots for the day were basically even with the Fords holding a slight 12-11 edge in that category. Haverford did maintain a 9-5 edge in corner kicks on the afternoon. Matt Broomall picked up the win in goal for Rutgers-Newark as he played the full 90 minutes. Sam Miller made a pair of saves in his 86:49 in net, while Chris Gibson came on to play the final 3:11.
Men's soccer will look to bounce back from its first defeat of the season when it travels to Lebanon Valley next Saturday in what will be the team's only competition on the docket for the coming week.