Dominant 1st half lifts Fords to season-opening win over Cabrini

Dominant 1st half lifts Fords to season-opening win over Cabrini

HAVERFORD, Pa. - A first-half offensive explosion by the Haverford College women's lacrosse team propelled the Fords to a season-opening 17-6 victory over Cabrini College in the Main Line non-conference match-up at Swan Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Sophomore Hannah Morgan (pictured) appropriately opened the scoring off a feed from senior Kenny Likes less than three minutes into the contest. It was just the first of many for Morgan as she struck for a career-high six goals on just six shots, almost equalling her entire goal output from last season (seven) over the course of the afternoon.

Sophomore Diana Perry and senior Perrin Downing followed with unassisted tallies  to push the Haverford advantage to 3-0 before the Cavaliers (0-1) got on the scoreboard in the eighth minute.

Likes restored the Fords' advantage to three, 4-1, with just under 20 minutes remaining in the half and then Morgan continued her career-day with three consecutive goals in a five-minute span including a successful free-position shot.

Sophomore Dayna Kim tallied her first goal of the season off another free-position shot at 11:07 before Cabrini's Lacie Doubet scored the Cavaliers' final goal of the half just under a minute later.

Over the final 10 minutes of the half, Haverford (1-0) continued to pour it on with six unanswered goals. Perry added two free-position markers in the surge while Morgan scored yet another. Downing closed out the opening stanza with a man-up goal with just 12 seconds left on the clock to provide the Fords with a commanding 14-2 lead at the break.

The two squads combined for just seven goals over the final 30 minutes as Morgan added her sixth goal and Christina Gould and Kim each registered their second of the afternoon.

Perry finished with six points on three goals and three assists while Likes also had a strong outing with two goals and two assists.

Making the first start of her career, junior Shannon Horn (1-0) was solid in goal with seven saves in the first half. Freshman Megan Chenworth (six) and sophomore Margaret Perkoff (three) combined for nine saves as they shared the duties between the pipes after the break.

Bree Thompson and Nathalie Basunga led Cabrini, the preseason favorite in the Colonial States Athletic Conference, with two goals apiece. Janel Folkomer (0-1) made eight saves in the loss.

Haverford finished 4-for-6 on free-position shots and won the ground ball battle, 19-14.

The Fords head to the University of Scranton on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest with the Royals at Fitzpatrick Field.