HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team got a face-off win and goal from Zack Cohen just seven seconds into its Centennial Conference opener against McDaniel on Saturday. The Fords kept that quick start rolling as they were eventually up by a 5-1 score at the end of the first quarter. Nevertheless, it wasn't until Garret Trucksess scored with 2:07 remaining in the fourth quarter that the Fords were able to come away with an 11-10 win during their Centennial Conference opener.

Ben Frost paced the Fords' attack as he scored three goals, including the game-tying effort with 6:16 remaining in the fourth quarter to erase Haverford's only deficit of the day. Trucksess joined the rest of his top line attackers in Stephen DeLeo and Sean Mowatt-Larssen as every player in that trio had multiple goals in the conference opener.

Cohen was fantastic from the face-off X on Saturday as he won 15 of the 24 restarts (62.5%) and collected seven ground balls off of those efforts. He also had an assist later in the game to set up a Mowatt-Larssen goal just seven seconds after the Green Terror scored during the second quarter.

McDaniel did manage to tie the game after Cohen's tally, but four goals from Haverford in an eight minute span had the Fords up big early. Ben Fujinaga scored his second goal of the year at the 10:16 mark, while DeLeo set up Mowatt-Larssen at the 6:36 mark. DeLeo then took the scoring into his own hands with goals just 1:21 apart to put his side up 5-1.

Haverford's lead grew to as many as five goals, 7-2, with Trucksess and Mowatt-Larssen tallying during the second quarter. The Green Terror brought the game back to within two goals as they ran off three straight scores, but Frost closed the first half scoring and opened the second half tallies to give his side a 9-5 lead.

When Haverford took that four-goal advantage early in the third quarter, McDaniel began to lock down defensively and did not allow a goal for nearly 22 minutes despite the Fords holding a 15-10 edge in shots during the third quarter. McDaniel got a goal from Micah Brooks with 9:09 to play in the fourth quarter to take its only lead of the day, but Frost's team-leading 13th goal of the season knotted the game with 6:16 remaining in regulation.

McDaniel held an 8-3 advantage in shots during that remaining time, but Dylan Slack made four big saves and finished the game with eight total stops. Nevertheless, it was Frost finding Trucksess for his seventh goal of the season that proved to be the difference in the final score. Slack made his final save as time expired before the Fords celebrated their 11-10 win.

Thanks to the advantage in face-offs, the Fords owned a 42-35 edge in ground balls. In addition to Cohen's game-high seven ground balls, Colby Ferrigno had six while Rob McLallen and Brian Geffroy each had four pickups. Ferrigno and Cohen also caused a pair of turnovers from McDaniel. Haverford finished the game with a 48-36 advantage in shots, but 15 saves from Green Terror goalie Jakob Katzen kept his side in the contest.

Men's lacrosse will look to pick up its second straight Centennial Conference victory when the team wraps up its six-game homestand this Wednesday in a 7 p.m. start under the lights against Muhlenberg. The Fords will head out on the road for the first time since late February when they trek to Franklin & Marshall next Saturday for a 12 p.m. start.