HAVERFORD, Pa. — On a beautiful, sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at historic Walton Field, Haverford ran its unbeaten streak to four matches with a 1-0 victory over Lebanon Valley in women's non-conference soccer action.
The Fords are now 3-2-1 on the year after the win Saturday, while the Flying Dutchmen fall to 1-2-1. The Fords haven't lost since a 6-0 loss to The College of New Jersey on Sept. 3.
Since that loss, Haverford has beaten Alvernia (2-0 on Sept. 6) and DeSales (6-1 on Sept. 9) and tied Widener (0-0 on Sept. 13) before Saturday's victory.
The Fords only needed one goal against Lebanon Valley, mainly because of how its defense played. Since giving up those six goals against TCNJ two weeks ago, the Fords have given up just one goal (to DeSales), and its defense has pitched three shutouts.
Saturday was no different as the Fords' defense kept Haverford goalkeepers from having to do very much. Starting senior goalkeeper Theresa Haupt — who picked up the win to go 3-2-1 — didn't see a shot on goal in her 45 minutes of work in the first half. Backup keeper, sophomore Lily Buyer, played the entire second half and only saw one shot.
That came by Kaitlyn Brumbaugh in the first three minutes of the second half. Buyer stopped the attempt, and that was Lebanon Valley's last true scoring threat and the only shot on goal of the match by the Flying Dutchmen.
The Fords, meanwhile, peppered Lebanon Valley goalkeeper Jocelyn Umana with 14 shots — five in the first half and nine more in the second half — including six shots on goal. She made five saves, but the one that got through to the back of the net was the only goal Haverford needed.
Haverford had a couple of chances early in the first half before the Fords finally broke through in the 29th minute. Senior forward Liv McMillan found the ball on her foot just inside the midfield stripe, and she turned to her right and saw junior forward Grace Haskell moving toward the goal on the left side of the field.
McMillan put a perfect pass on Haskell, who took about three dribbles and then fired, putting the ball past Umana on the near left side for a 1-0 Haverford lead at the 28:09 mark of the first half. Haverford had four other shots on goal in the first half, all coming before Haskell got the ball past the Lebanon Valley goalkeeper for the match's only goal.
The Fords will return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they take on unbeaten Franklin & Marshall (4-0-1) in their Centennial Conference opener at Tylus Field in Lancaster. The Diplomats are 1-0 in conference play after a 2-0 win over Bryn Mawr on the road Saturday afternoon. F&M is also receiving votes in the latest NCAA Division III national soccer polls.