HAVERFORD, Pa. - A pair of scoring streaks in the second half broke open a tight Centennial Conference men's lacrosse game Saturday afternoon at Swan Field, as Haverford College's Fords pulled away from visiting McDaniel College over the final 30 minutes to pick up a 9-4 victory over the Green Terror.
Haverford (4-5, 1-2 CC) traded goals with McDaniel (3-8, 0-3) over the opening 30 minutes of action resulting in the teams heading into the halftime break knotted at 2-2.
The Green Terror nabbed their first lead of the game on the opening faceoff of the third period as Zach Monzo's 11th of the season came at the 14:52 mark off a feed from Ryan Hennessy.
The advantage didn't last long, though, as Jake Maldonado's score not quite two minutes later sparked a three-goal outburst from the Fords to wrest the lead and the momentum away from the visitors.
Maldonado's 12th of the year was at the 12:08 mark off an assist from Jack Bodine and tied the game at 3-3. Six minutes later Nick Schoen gave the Fords a 4-3 lead and then doubled the advantage to two by scoring again with just over two minutes left in the period.
The Green Terror cut the lead back to one on an unassisted tally from Jason Lawrence early in the fourth period but it was all Haverford the rest of the way as it notched four unanswered goals to put the game away.
Maldonado's third of the game started the four-goal outburst that included scores by Christian Clay, Schoen and Dan LoSardo. Maldonado's and LoSardo's tallies were both on man-up opportunities for the Fords who finished the day 2-for-3 when operating on extra-man chances.
Haverford goalie Eric Caliendo notched nine saves in earning the win, coming up with four of his stops in the first period during which he surrendered just one goal. McDaniel netminder Christian Dallmus played a solid first half coming up with three saves against four goals allowed but struggled in the second half failing to come up with a save while surrendering seven goals.
A road challenge awaits the Fords next Saturday when they travel to Carlisle, Pa., to square off against 2nd-ranked Dickinson College in a noontime Centennial contest.