HAVERFORD, Pa. – "That, ladies, was a 70 minute game to be proud of," proclaimed Haverford College field hockey head coach Colleen Fink after her team's 1-0 victory over visiting Franklin & Marshall College in the quarterfinal match-up of the Centennial Conference playoffs Wednesday night under the lights at Swan Field.

Haverford (9-9), the No. 4 seed entering the playoffs, was making its first appearance in the league tournament squaring off against the No. 5 seed Diplomats (10-8) who were playing in their eighth Centennial postseason game.

Both teams played marvelous defense all game long, most assuredly to the delight of Fink and Franklin & Marshall coach Melissa Krempa, but in the 62nd minute Haverford's leading scorer, Mary Hobbs, finally broke in from the right side through a tight F&M defense and found teammate Juliana Morgan-Trostle free at the back post. Morgan-Trostle quickly gathered Hobbs' pass and slammed the ball into the left corner past Dips goalie Naomi Stone for the only goal of the contest sending Haverford into Saturday's semifinals.

Goalie Maggie Cronin kept the Fords in the game throughout the second half making five of her six saves over the final 35 minutes to complete the shutout, her second of the season.

The opening frame was dominated by the defenses as each team played strongly in front of their own goal, the Fords generating just five shots and F&M getting off just one.

The Diplomats seemed to grab some momentum early in the second half but Cronin stood tall to keep the visitors off the scoreboard and eventually the Haverford attack put pressure on F&M's Stone.

Much of the final stanza was played in alternating four or five minute surges of pressure by each team's attack. Compared to only one penalty corner by each team in the opening half, both generated three apiece during the second frame. Finally, though, Morgan-Trostle and Hobbs were able to change the lights on the scoreboard and help push the Fords to the win.

Waiting for the Fords in the 11 a.m. semifinal Saturday morning in Collegeville, Pa., will be the tournament's top seed and host, the Ursinus College Bears who are ranked third in the country in the most recent Kookaburra/National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll. The other semifinal between 14th-ranked Gettysburg and 17th-ranked Johns Hopkins will begin at approximately 1:30 p.m. with the semifinal winners meeting up in the tournament final, Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Collegeville.