HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team won 5-1 in its NCAA Tournament First Round game on Walton Field Saturday afternoon against the United States Merchant Marine Academy. The No. 13 Fords (14-3-3) scored three times in the first half and added on two more in the second half to down the Mariners (13-5-2).
Haverford's five goals marked the most the team has scored in an NCAA Tournament game. The previous high came in 1980 with a 4-3 win over Elizabethtown in a Round of 24 match up which was then the opening round of the national draw.
Haverford will now look to punch its ticket to the NCAA Sectional Round on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match up against the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Beacons were a 3-0 winner against Kean in the second game on Walton Field Saturday.
Matthew Clausen scored a pair of goals to lead Haverford's offense on Saturday. He tallied the Fords' final goal of the first half and opened the scoring in the second. Ben Field opened the scoring in the 12th minute of play. Maclyn Willigan headed home the eventual game-winner just nine minutes later, while Dorian Wirz closed the scoring in the second half. The Mariners got their tally during the 33rd minute of game action.
The Fords racked up a 19-9 advantage in shots over the 90 minutes. Haverford got on the board early as Field and Tejan Walcott played a nice give-and-go to put home the game's first tally. Field's goal was his sixth of the season.
Haverford's next chance came in the 21st minute when team co-captains Will Corkery and Maclyn Willigan connected for the eventual game-winning goal. Following a foul outside of the 18. Corkery played a perfectly placed ball to the head of Willigan who found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Willigan now has five career goals from his center-back position. Today's goal was the first game-winning tally of those goals.
Clausen got into the scoring act in the 30th minute of game action. After his initial shot from close range was saved, he collected the rebound and dribbled around the goalie to make the score 3-0. Merchant Marine recorded its only goal of the game three minutes later when Hannes Rogers scored his third goal of the year to make the score a 3-1 game going into the half.
Clausen again stretched Haverford's lead to three goals when he tallied during the 68th minute of play. This goal was also set up by Corkery who played a longer direct kick, but was still able to find Clausen in the box to head it home. Clausen's goal was his second career multi-goal game and first since his freshman season against Ursinus. Corkery now has four assists as part of his 10 points in 10 games this season.
Haverford put an exclamation on the win with its fifth goal coming off the foot of Dorian Wirz. Wirz's goal was the first of his season and third of his career. Tejan Walcott was credited with his second assist of the game and is now tied for the team lead with four helpers on the season.
Jeremy Astesano got the win in goal for the Fords to improve to 7-0-2 on the season as the goalie of record. He was called on to make two saves in his 81:05 of playing time before giving way to freshman Michael Iacono. Iacono went untested during his 8:55 of playing time to close out the win. Cory Maier made five saves for the Mariners as he played the full 90 minutes.