HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's lacrosse team (2-2) faced off against No. 8 York (1-2) in a defensive battle on Swan Field Wednesday afternoon. Both teams had to contend with wet and windy conditions, but York closed the contest on a 3-0 run to secure a 9-7 road victory.
Brooke Epstein led Haverford with two goals, and Kylie McNamara, Bella Gattuso, Tiffany Mikulis, Reilly Curran, and Ellie Hughes each contributed a goal to the offensive effort. Bonner notched two assists, while Mikulis grabbed five draw controls and five ground balls in a well-rounded effort.
Reigning CC Defensive Player of the Week, Eva Baumann, continued her strong start to the season with three caused turnovers, and Lizzie Symonds shined in her first career start as the goalkeeper, making 12 saves.
After both sides remained scoreless in the first five minutes, Ellie Hughes opened the scoring at the 10:02 mark of the first quarter, firing a shot off a feed from Bonner to give the Fords the early advantage. York struck back, winning the ensuing draw, and Gianna Huet punched in the equalizer.
Epstein scored with 6:09 showing on the first-quarter clock, and York answered moments later with Sydney Mentzer finding the back of the net off an assist from Zoe Kluegel. Mikulis lit the lamp with 2:19 remaining in the quarter to give Haverford a 3-2 cushion. York used a 2-0 run with goals from Natalie Neiman and Mentzer to pull back ahead, but McNamara scored with 5:43 left in the half to knot the score at 4-4 heading into intermission.
After halftime, the two sides continued to trade goals, with Symonds weathering some strong scoring opportunities from the Spartans, denying Jen Campbell and Huet before Ellie Hughes found Reilly Curran for a goal to make the score 5-5 with 7:59 remaining in the third.
Haverford briefly pulled ahead as Gattuso subbed into the contest and made an immediate impact, tallying off an assist from Curran to give the hosts a 6-5 cushion. Kluegel answered for the Spartans moments later, and the score was knotted at 6-6 heading into the final period.
Epstein scored to send the Haverford bench into a frenzy with 14:16 left in regulation, but Mentzer answered less than two minutes later, and the score was again deadlocked at 7-7. Strong play in the cage from York goalkeeper Bella Garabo helped deny a Mikulis attempt with 11:47 to go, and Kluegel then gave York an 8-7 lead with 10:19 remaining.
Haverford had designs on tying the score yet again as Lizzie Healy earned the draw control, but the York defense stifled the Haverford attack. With possession eventually going to the Spartans with under three minutes to play, Madison Kurland added an insurance goal with 1:52 showing on the clock, and Sarah Christensen came up with a momentous draw control win in the closing moments to help seal the deal. With the shot clock about to expire on the final York possession, Kate Walsh put a shot on target that was saved by Symonds as the Fords immediately called for a timeout, but the two-goal cushion was too much to overcome in the waning moments.
Mentzer had a hat-trick to pace all scorers, also contributing three ground balls, five draw controls, and a pair of caused turnovers. Garabo added five ground balls and a caused turnover to a seven-save day for York.
The contest was extremely evenly matched, as demonstrated by the tally in shots (25-22 York), ground balls (16-16), turnovers (14-14), clears (18-17 York), and draw controls (11-9 York).
Women's Lacrosse, receiving votes in the IWLCA poll, now returns to action on Sunday, March 10, taking on the University of Mary Washington in a neutral site clash at the U.S. Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Maryland at 5 p.m.. The contest will begin Haverford's three-match spring break slate that also sees the Fords trekking to Virginia for contests against Shenandoah (March 14) and No. 15 Christopher Newport (March 16).