HAVERFORD, Pa. – Clinching a playoff spot in the Centennial Conference tournament was one of several milestones achieved by the Haverford College women's soccer team Tuesday afternoon when it downed visiting Washington College, 6-0, in a league game at Walton Field.
The Fords (12-3-1, 6-2-1 CC) last lit up the scoreboard with six goals in 2005 when they downed…Washington College by the identical score in another October match-up. The 2012 Shorewomen drop to 6-8-1 overall and 2-6-1 in league play with Tuesday's defeat which marked the first time this season that Haverford has scored four goals in one half.
The 4-0 halftime lead came courtesy of multiple scoring opportunities from a persistent attack as the Fords accumulated 18 shots, nine of which were on goal, during the opening 45 minutes.
Allie Chen got the ball rolling with her fifth goal of the year, arcing home a high shot from 20 yards out over Washington goalie Rebecca Potochney before the game was 10 minutes old. Phoebe Miller then cashed in a feed from Hannah Davis for the first of two goals on the day to push the lead to two, eight minutes later.
Mariah Baker and Isabella Bertagna, each scoring their second goals of the year, followed Miller's goal to provide the four-goal cushion at the intermission.
The lead grew by one in the 59th minute with Miller's second of the day, with an assist from Connie Friedman, and then a pair of freshmen teamed up to close out the scoring as Jo Haller knocked home a shot that had originally come off of Lexi Williams' foot in the 70th.
Haverford goalkeeper Robin Chernow (12-3) started and earned the win, registering three saves before giving way to Alana Thurston who picked up a save playing between the pipes over the final 25 minutes of the win. Potochney (5-6) took the loss after allowing all six goals but coming up with seven saves.
The most important accomplishment on the day for the third-place Fords was the clinching of the playoff berth as they can now finish no worse than fourth in the league standings, owning a head-to-head win over Muhlenberg College (7-7-2, 5-3-1 CC) which is in fifth place with one Centennial game remaining.
In addition to the playoff news, the home victory pushes Haverford's 2012 record at Walton to 9-0, the first time the team has gone unbeaten at home since 2005 when the Fords were 14-5-2 overall, 10-0-2 at home and qualified for the NCAA tournament.
The lone regular-season game left on the slate for Haverford is Saturday afternoon's rivalry contest against host Swarthmore College. Game time is set for 3 p.m.