SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team took down rival Swarthmore in double overtime, 2-1, on Saturday evening. With the No. 1 seed in the Centennial Conference already secured earlier this week, the Fords (12-4, 8-1 CC) showed no signs of looking ahead to the postseason as they denied the Hood Trophy rival Garnet (9-7-1, 4-4-1 CC) a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament with Saturday's result.
Michael Carr delivered Haverford's game-winning goal with just over two minutes remaining in the second overtime. He scored off of a pass from Nick Jannelli who himself had tied the game with just 3:13 remaining on a penalty kick.
The Fords finished the month of October undefeated at 8-0-0 and have now won nine straight matches overall entering the postseason. That streak is now the sixth-longest winning streak in the program's rich tradition.
Offensive chances were a tail of two halves for the sides as host Swarthmore racked up a 6-2 advantage in shots during the opening half. Despite playing on a slick turf, Jeremy Astesano handled both of those chances as the teams went into the half scoreless.
Haverford amassed an 8-2 advantage in shots during the second half; however, a penalty kick for both sides provided the only offense of regulation. The Garnet got their chance from the PK spot just 1:28 after the intermission as the Fords were whistled for a foul inside the box. Making a name for himself as a penalty kick guru throughout his career, Astesano was unable to guess right on this day as Ethan Witkowski put the homestanding Garnet up 1-0.
The Fords put Swarthmore under constant pressure in a bid to find the equalizer and created several chances, but it was another PK that ultimately leveled the contest. The Garnet were called for a handball inside the box and Jannelli delivered his fourth penalty kick goal this season, and ninth of his career. Jannelli finishes the regular season with a Centennial Conference-leading 31 points as he tied for the conference lead with 12 goals while adding seven other assists. Seventeen of those points (seven goals, three assists) came against Centennial Conference foes.
Jannelli scored in eight of Haverford's 16 matches during the regular season and has recorded an offensive point in all but three matches to date this season. Continuing his ascent up Haverford's career record books, the junior now ranks 12th in career points (80) as he passed Dan Braz '93 with Saturday's work in the offensive third. Jannelli's 33 career goals tie him with Sam Yarosh '16 and Rob Shaker '91 for 12th in school history.
However, his work was far from done on the offensive end as Jannelli found Carr in front of the Garnet goal during the second overtime to put an exclamation on an exceptional regular season for the Fords. Carr has now scored eight goals in his career, with six of them being game-winning efforts. Tonight's goal was the senior captain and midfielder's career-high third goal of the 2018 season.
Saturday's win also marked the 50th victory all-time for the men's soccer program against Swarthmore. The Fords are 50-39-9 all-time against the Garnet, sporting a 26-18-5 record on their opponent's turf. This year's matchup marked the seventh time in program history the two sides have needed overtime during the all-time series.
Men's soccer will now have a week before its Centennial Conference semifinal on Walton Field that is scheduled for next Saturday, November 3. The Fords will host the winner of the conference's first round game on Wednesday featuring fourth-seeded Dickinson and fifth-seeded Gettysburg. Times for all of the Centennial Conference's postseason matches will be announced on Monday morning.