CARLISLE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team fell to Dickinson in a battle of regionally-ranked teams Saturday afternoon by a 3-2 overtime score. The Fords (9-4-3, 4-3-1 CC) scored less than 24 minutes into regulation, but later needed a penalty kick goal with 15:02 remaining in the second half to send the contest into overtime. However, the Red Devils (10-4-2, 4-2-2 CC) claimed sole possession of fourth place in the Centennial Conference standings by scoring just 2:21 into the first overtime period.
Despite the loss on Saturday, Haverford still officially clinched a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament with the help of a Swarthmore loss to Gettysburg. Today's result also solidifies a rematch of today's contest in the Centennial Conference Tournament first round game with the host still to be determined based on next weekend's results.
Coming back to today's contest, the Fords held a slight edge in shots (15-13) and corner kicks (6-4) with the hosts putting nine shots on goal to Haverford's eight attempts. Haverford opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Ben Field and Nick Jannelli connected to put the visitor's up 1-0. Field's goal was his third of the season while Jannelli's assist was him team-leading fourth helper of the year. Field now has 15 goals during his Haverford career.
Dickinson tied the game less than 10 minutes later with Will Bracken tallying an unassisted goal. The Red Devils took the lead in the 70th minute when Kevin Gilbert was set up by Brendan McGovern to make the score 2-1 with just over 20 minutes remaining. However, a huge save earlier in the half from Jeremy Astesano on a penalty kick kept the Fords from finding themselves in a 3-1 deficit. The two sides also traded shots off the post with Dickinson finding medal earlier in the first half while Jannelli knocked what was a potential go-ahead goal at the time off the post during the 62nd minute of play.
Jannelli got his second chance just 5:32 after Dickinson had taken the lead when the Red Devils were whistled for a foul in the box. The sophomore calmly deposited his third such goal this season in the back of the net to knot the score at two-all. Jannelli now has a team-best 11 goals to go along with his team lead in assists for a total of 25 points this season. He has 19 career goals and seven career assists after today's match.
Even in the overtime session, penalty kicks continued to be a theme as Dickinson was awarded its second such attempt of the game just 53 seconds into the overtime. Once again, Astesano was up to the task. However, the Red Devils scored just 1:29 after that game-saving play to emerge a 3-2 victor.
Just one game remains on the Fords' regular season schedule as they will host Swarthmore next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Kick off of that game will be preceded by the team honoring its graduating class as a part of Senior Day. Haverford can secure a home first round game against the Red Devils with a win against Swarthmore and a Dickinson loss or tie against Johns Hopkins. Any other combination of results will see the Fords headed back to Carlisle to start their postseason journey.