HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team took another big step in returning the program to the postseason with a 9-8 victory on Sunday against Dickinson. The Fords (6-5, 2-2 CC) scored three times in each of the first three quarters to take down the Red Devils (6-4, 1-2 CC). Dickinson came into today's contest receiving votes in the latest national poll. Haverford's victory was its first over the Red Devils since the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Rob McLallen led the Haverford attack with three goals on the afternoon, scoring once in each of the first three quarters. Tav Hafner added two goals while four other players also found the back of the net in the win. Eric Caliendo made six saves on the afternoon to preserve the win. However, no stop was bigger than his denial of Rob Kendall with 56 seconds to play as the Red Devils attempted to force an overtime session.
The two sides alternated goals all the way up to four-all on the scoreboard. Each time it was Haverford taking the advantage during this stretch. McLallen got the scoring started just 1:50 into game action. Chase Williams' 14th goal of the season off an assist from Mitch Hagan made it 2-1 with 9:30 to play in the opening quarter. Hafner's first goal of the afternoon came with 6:27 left in the first before the Red Devils tied the score with 24 seconds left in the quarter.
Haverford continued to jump ahead but just could not pull away as Hafner scored his second goal of the game and 10th of the season just under six minutes into the second quarter. Isaac Krier set up this goal with his fifth assist of the year. However, it was Dickinson that would be the first team who scored back-to-back goals as Kendall made the score 5-4 Red Devils with just over three minutes left in the half. Nevertheless, Haverford came back with goals from McLallen and Krier just 17 seconds apart to hold a 6-5 lead at the half. Krier now has a team-leading 17 goals on the season. Garret Trucksess and PJ Jackson were credited with the assists on the final two goals of the half.
The Fords continued their trend of scoring first in each quarter when Patrick Girard tallied his seventh goal of the season just under three minutes into the third quarter. After a Dickinson goal, tallies from McLallen and Trucksess gave Haverford its largest lead of the afternoon, 9-6, with 3:41 left in the third quarter. Dickinson scored with 20 seconds left in the third quarter and 12:35 remaining in regulation time, but never found the equalizer as Caliendo made a pair of saves in the fourth quarter to help his team hold on for the victory.
Caliendo's efforts anchored a defense that caused 11 turnovers on the afternoon. Max Ellis and Jackson each forced three giveaways from the Red Devils. Haverford also had a 35-28 edge in groundballs. Zack Cohen collected a game-high nine groundballs thanks in large part to winning 13 of the game's 20 faceoffs.
Men's lacrosse will have just one contest this week, but will have to go on the road in search of its next Centennial Conference victory. The Fords will next travel to Muhlenberg on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start in Allentown.