COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Haverford College women's lacrosse team (7-7, 2-5 CC) snapped a five-game losing skid in emphatic fashion, turning away host Ursinus (3-11, 2-5 CC) by an 18-4 final on Saturday at Patterson Field. Haverford rattled off a 14-0 run that spanned both halves to take a 15-1 lead with 9:45 to play. In total, 11 different Fords found the back of the net on the afternoon.
Senior Allie Gibbons, junior Maeve Gaffney, and sophomore Courtney Cubbin each had three-goal performances while junior Julia Manetta and sophomore Julia Pascarella both had five assists in the victory. Senior midfielder Sarah Svetec grabbed a career-best five draw controls and added three ground balls, while sophomore Amelia Slade and first year Sarah Cahn each saw time in goal, combining for six saves.
Manetta found Svetec for the first tally of the game just over three minutes into the contest, but Kaci McNeave found the back of the net for the Bears, equalizing the score at 1-1 at the 24:27 mark. From that point, it was all Fords as Haverford methodically grew its advantage to 11-1 with 52 seconds to play in the first half, triggering a running clock.
The margin would not dip below the 10-goal threshold for the remainder of the contest, as first-year Roma Hladky gave Haverford a 15-goal lead with 9:45 to go. First-year Hannah Lopez scored with five minutes to play before Cubbin completed her hat trick with 1:04 to play, giving Haverford its 18th and final goal of the game.
Svetec led five Haverford players with multiple ground balls, while Gibbons added a pair of caused turnovers. The Fords held the Bears to just a 9-for-15 mark in clears, causing 18 turnovers in a stout defensive effort. Gibbons extended her conference lead in goals with another three-goal contest, as she finishes the day with 56 tallies. Manetta now has 56 assists, a total that also is tops on the conference leaderboard.
Haverford has now won five straight meetings with Ursinus, dating back to the 2015 campaign. The Fords have also been victorious in their last five trips to Collegeville, ranging back to the 2012 season.
The Fords will now return to action with key matchups against each of their Tr-Co neighbors on tap as the race for the Centennial Conference playoffs heats up in the final week of the regular season. Haveford makes a quick jaunt to Bryn Mawr for a 5 p.m. opening draw on Wednesday, April 24 before hosting Swarthmore for Senior Day. The regular season finale at Swan Field is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.