HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's soccer team used a three-goal blitz of Arcadia to advance to Sunday's championship game of the Haverford College Kick Off Classic against Eastern. Arcadia (1-1) got one of those goals back early in the second half before the Haverford (2-0) defense settled back in for the 3-1 victory.
With women's soccer winning in its home opener, the Fords remained unbeaten on the newly renovated Walton Field with the men's side winning on Tuesday. Skyler Ellenburg opened the scoring in the 15th minute off an assist from Jo Haller. Just 1:21 later Raina Fitzpatrick scored her team-leading third goal of the season. The Fords' eventual game-winning goal came off a pass from Ali Lopez. Anna Dekle capped the Fords' scoring with a successful penalty kick attempt in the 38th minute.
Playing a very back-and-forth contest in the opening minutes, the game's first shot from Arcadia was saved by Kathy Prescott. During the Fords' first true offensive threat, Haller took possession and found Ellenburg in the center of the box. The Haverford sophomore proceeded to bury her take in the upper right corner of the frame for the early Haverford advantage. The helper marked the second straight game in which Haller has assisted on a Fords' goal and gives her six points in two games to start her senior campaign.
Just over a minute after breaking onto the scoreboard, the Fords duplicated that effort in similar fashion. On the game's second goal, Lopez took the Fords' possession down to the end line. Her cross found Fitzpatrick just outside of the box as she finished in the same location for her second straight game with a tally on the scoreboard. The assist on the eventual game-winning goal marked the first point of the season for Lopez.
After going up by a 2-0 advantage, Haverford threatened on multiple occasions before finding its third goal of the half. A string of three straight shots off target included a take by Haller off a corner that bounced off the outside of the post. However, just minutes later the Knights were whistled for a foul in the box. With the penalty kick awarded, Dekle calmly delivered her first goal of the season from the penalty spot.
Facing a three goal deficit after the first 45 minutes, Arcadia took the better of the possession in the opening minutes of the second half. Prescott came up with a save, while the Haverford defense blocked down a Knights' threat early on. However, the Knights found their first and only goal of the contest in the 51st minute. With a second chance at a corner attempt for the game, Arcadia's Tara Smith found Lennon Kramer who promptly headed it home to make the score 3-1.
That goal would be all the closer the Fords' defense allowed Arcadia to get as Prescott finished the game with four saves, stopping two in each half. The Knights finished with a slight 15-12 edge in shots; however, the Haverford defense limited Arcadia to just five shots on goal. On the other hand, the Fords put eight of their 12 shots on frame for the contest. Jo Haller led the team with four shots on the afternoon. Safiyah Riddle and Fitzpatrick also had two shots for the match as eight different players recorded a shot in the contest for the Fords.
Women's soccer will be back in the Kick Off Classic Championship game tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. The Fords will play Eastern after the Eagles advanced with a 4-2 victory in penalty kicks after playing to a 2-2 draw after 110 minutes of double overtime soccer. Arcadia and Brockport will play in the consolation game at 3:30 p.m.