WALTHAM, Mass. – Ben Field scored twice and registered another assist to help lift the No. 6 Haverford College men's soccer team past Western New England University on Saturday in the Fords' season opener. Field's career-high five points all came within the first 15 minutes of play and were separated by just over five minutes of game action as Haverford rolled to an eventual 5-0 win.
In addition to Field, Will Corkery – the team's leading returning scorer from a season ago – tallied a penalty kick goal in the second half. Freshmen Nick Jannelli and Peter Baroff made their college debuts memorable as each tallied a goal in their first action for Haverford.
Sam Miller was called on to make five saves on the afternoon as part of a combined shutout. Jeremy Astesano entered the game in 63rd minute and played just shy of 20 minutes. He recorded two saves in his time in goal before Chris Gibson went untested during the final eight minutes of game action.
Western New England held the attack very early as it put two shots wide and forced Miller into making a save during the first seven-plus minutes of game action. However, it did not take long for the nationally-ranked side to find its groove. The first goal came when Field scored unassisted on what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
Just under four minutes after putting his team on the board, another run down the sideline from Field led to another goal. This time, the Fords' junior found Jannelli in front of the goal to make it 2-0. The Fords capped their early blitz with just 1:08 in between the second and third goals. On their final goal of the half, Russell Nicholson set up his classmate for the header finish.
Haverford also jumped out quickly in the second half when it drew a foul in the box. Corkery picked up right where he left off a year ago as he knocked home the penalty kick to make the score 4-0. Corkery is now 3-for-3 in penalty kicks for his career. Only Matt Gorski '13, with four penalty kick goals in five attempts, has scored more on PKs since that stat has been tracked. Baroff capped the scoring in the 83rd minute when he took a pass from the 2013 Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year Dorian Wirz to make the score a 5-0 final.
The Fords held a 14-11 advantage in shots with Field's two goals on just three attempts leading the team. Matthew Clausen was the only other Haverford player with multiple shots as he recorded two attempts at goal in his return to the pitch.
Men's soccer will now gear up an early top 10 showdown as it battles host Brandeis on Sunday at 4 p.m. Brandeis, ranked No. 9 nationally, opened the year with a 3-1 win against John Carroll as a part of the Brandeis Invitational.