HAVERFORD, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Haverford College men's lacrosse team broke open a deadlocked halftime score with a big third period, and received stellar play from face-off specialist Robert Breckinridge all game long in defeating No. 12 Denison University, 10-7, Saturday afternoon at Swan Field in non-conference action.
Deadlocked at 5-5 after two periods, Haverford (5-1) scored three unanswered goals through the middle of the third, then answered a pair of Denison scores with two more near the period's close to establish a three-goal advantage over the Big Red (2-1) that lasted throughout the final, scoreless 15 minutes.
Jason Leeds gave the Fords a 6-5 lead at 8:13 of the third off an assist from Myles Monaghan. Phillip Valliant followed with an unassisted score a minute later, then Max Hjelm found the back of the net two minutes later.
The three goals, combined with the final two markers of the second period, gave Haverford a five-goal run over approximately 20 minutes of game action.
Denison battled back in the third to pull within one, 8-7, with a pair of goals in 82 seconds, but Monaghan and Leeds scored 69 seconds apart as the third period drew to an end to set the score at the game's final numbers.
Leeds scored the initial goal of the game, notching an unassisted tally with less than five to play in the opening period. Twice, though, over the rest of the half, Denison pushed out to two-goal advantages, the second of which was negated by Zack Cohen's and Hjelms' goals to close out the second and send the game into it's intermission knotted at five.
Haverford had a definitive advantage at the face-off dot where Breckinridge won 12-of-19 opportunities. One battle with Denison's Chip Phillips came after the Big Red scored to take their first two-goal lead. Breckinridge won the face-off cleanly, sprinted down the middle of the field and dished to Monaghan who scored just seven seconds after the Denison goal.
Play was rough throughout the 60 minutes of action. Nine slashing penalties were called, seven against the Big Red. In all, 17 penalties were whistled with the Fords capitalizing twice on their 11 man-up chances and Denison converting one of their six tries.
Monaghan and Leeds both finished with game-high four-point days, each scoring three times and assisting on one goal. Tanner Smith and Colin Molloy led Denison with two goals apiece.
Joe Banno had a strong day in goal for Haverford registering 15 saves including seven in the first period and six in the last. Gregg Shannon started in the cage and took the loss for Denison, allowing eight goals while stopping six shots. He gave way to Nick Petracca, who surrendered a pair of goals while making three saves, with five minutes to go in the third.
Haverford begins Centennial Conference play with its next game. The Fords travel to No. 16 Gettysburg College (3-3) next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest against the host Bullets.