HAVERFORD, Pa. –The Haverford College women's lacrosse team stunned the No. 4-ranked Gettysburg College Bullets, 11-10, in double overtime on Saturday afternoon at Swan Field. The Fords outscored the Bullets 9-1 in the second half before junior Christina Gould scored the game winner in the second overtime.
Senior Diana Perry recorded the first of her career-high seven goals at the 26:23 mark of the first half to give the Fords a 1-0 advantage. The Bullets responded with the equalizer a few minutes later on a tally from Mandy Buell. Gettysburg seized control of the first half with three goals in the span of 51 seconds to take a 4-1 lead with 20:02 to go. The No. 4 ranked team in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IWLCA) poll tacked on two more goals, making the halftime score 6-1.
The Bullets controlled the pace of play in the first stanza by holding the Fords without a draw control and outshooting the home team 20-5. Gettysburg also created nine turnovers and held Haverford without a free position opportunity in the first 30 minutes of game action.
It seemed as though Gettysburg would continue its impressive outing with the first two goals of the second period, but Haverford turned the tides after the Bullets took an 8-1 lead with 26:50 left in the game. Haverford held Gettysburg without shot over the next 10 minutes to help get back in the contest. During that span, the Fords got two goals from Perry and tallies from sophomores Sarina Manetta, Maura Grant and freshman Molly Lausten.
The momentum of the contest flipped back over to Gettysburg's side as Buel and Amanda Borucki scored goals for the Bullets to put them up by four (10-6) with 15:37 remaining.
The senior captain, Perry, kept the rally going with her fourth goal of the game and third of the second half at the 11:02 to mark, cutting the Fords' deficit to three. After junior Amanda Fleming won the next draw, the Fords maintained possession which allowed Perry to cut the home team's deficit to 10-8.
As the clock clicked under three minutes, Perry was rewarded with a free position shot and cashed in to make the score 10-9. With one minute to go, Gettysburg's Shannon Keeler came up with a huge save on another Haverford free position chance, but junior Elyse Adler picked up the ground ball to keep position in the offensive zone. The Fords had one final shot to extend the game into overtime with a free position opportunity for Perry with 20 seconds left. The senior shot it past Keeler for her 150th career goal. She is now one of only seven players in Haverford women's lacrosse history to reach that milestone.
In the first overtime, the Fords gained possession on the opening draw, but Keeler denied the only scoring threat. Gettysburg also recorded a shot, but it was blocked by a Haverford defender. The Fords picked up the opening draw of the second overtime and Gould punched home the victory on her free position goal 45 seconds later.
The Fords' offensive intensity stepped up in the second half as they scored 10 times and outshot the Bullets 17-10. After not winning a draw control in the first half, Haverford nabbed nine in the final 36:45 of play.
Perry was one of five Fords to record a goal. The senior finished with seven of eight shots on goal reaching the back of the next. Her seven goals are tied for the second most in a game in program history. Junior Isabella Bertagna had a team-high four ground balls while Lausten and Fleming had two draw controls each.
Today's victory was the first for Haverford over a ranked team since defeating No. 20 Washington College 12-11 on the road during the 2013 season (Apr. 17). It's also just the second Centennial Conference loss for Gettysburg to a team other than Franklin and Marshall since the 2002 campaign. The 11-10 win for Haverford is also the first time it beat Gettysburg since 1994.
With the win, Haverford improves to 5-3 and 1-0 in the conference while Gettysburg drops to 5-2 and 0-1 in the Centennial. The Fords will now travel to Rowan on Wednesday (4 p.m.) and McDaniel on Saturday (1 p.m.).