Signature wins: The Haverford College men's lacrosse team was at its best playing against some of the top teams in all of Division III. That big game experience shined through when the Fords defeated top 10 opponents Dickinson and Ursinus on the road this spring. Both of those wins came by 12-9 final scores. Those two victories represented just the second time in program history that the Fords have beaten two top 10 teams in the same season. The only other occasion came in 2010 (3 top 10 wins) when the Fords captured the program's first Centennial Conference Championship.
Ethan Donlon was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week and a member of the USILA National Squad following each of those contests as he made 23 saves against the Red Devils and 19 more two weeks later against the Bears. Hat tricks from Garret Trucksess, Stephen DeLeo, and Sean Mowatt-Larssen led the attack in the win against Dickinson while Mowatt-Larssen scored four goals at Ursinus as one of seven players who found the back of that cage that day. Those wins kept the Fords in the playoff hunt up until the final day of the regular season as they played in an always-challenging conference which ended up sending three teams to the national tournament.
Season Notes: Haverford now has 11 wins in program history against teams ranked in the top 10 … The Fords also had one top 10 victory every year from 2004 through 2009 before the breakthrough 2010 season … Haverford played the ninth-toughest schedule in all of Division III … In addition to the three teams from the Centennial Conference on its schedule, the Fords also played NCAA Finalist Cabrini and NCAA qualifier Stockton throughout the regular season … Haverford won a total of five games under first-year head coach Nick Taylor, also picking up victories against Kenyon, Gwynedd Mercy, and McDaniel … Ben Frost became just the 11th player in all Centennial Conference sports to earn back-to-back Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, an award presented to the junior or senior student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among players who also earned All-Centennial Conference accolades for each conference sponsored sport … Frost was also named the William W. Ambler '45 Award recipient for having the highest GPA among all Haverford senior student-athletes … Classmate Dylan Slack was named an Ambler Scholar-Athlete for having a top 16 GPA among senior student-athletes … Ethan Donlon took over the starting goalie position midway through the season but still garnered All-Centennial Conference accolades … Five of Haverford's last six starting goalies have now earned All-Centennial Conference accolades at some point during their careers … That list includes All-Americans K.C. Peterson '07, Joe Banno '12, and Eric Caliendo '16 … Haverford led the Centennial Conference with a program-record 22 student-athletes named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor … Senior Stephen DeLeo '19 recorded the 100th point of his career on Senior Day against Swarthmore, capping his career with 68 goals and 33 assists … Rob McLallen's 25 assists this year were the most since Zack Cohen '12 also had 25 helpers during the 2010 season.
Awards:
- USILA honorable mention All-America: Ben Frost
- USILA Scholar All-American: Ben Frost
- Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Ben Frost (lacrosse and overall men's winner)
- William W. Ambler '45 Award Recipient: Ben Frost
- Ambler Scholar-Athlete: Dylan Slack
- A.W. "Pop" Haddleton Award: Will Fox
- CoSIDA Academic All-District: Ben Frost
- Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team: Ben Frost
- All-Centennial Conference: Ethan Donlon (honorable mention), Ben Frost (honorable mention)
- Centennial Conference All-Sportsmanship Team: Will Fox
- USILA National Team of the Week: Ethan Donlon (4/9, 4/23)
- Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week: Dylan Slack (3/11), Ethan Donlon (4/8, 4/22)
- Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll: Jeremy Akin, Connor Braun, Kyle Buseck, Zack Cohen, Matt Culkin, Stephen DeLeo, Ethan Donlon, Jake Ephron, Colby Ferrigno, Ben Forde, Will Fox, Ben Frost, Jonathan Frost, Ben Fujinaga, Quinn Glabicki, Grayson Hamrick, Han Mahle, Rob McLallen, Dylan Slack, Ryan Tetro, Anthony Vizzoni, Joe Weisberg
Looking ahead: The Fords graduate 12 players from this year's team but have plenty of returning talent looking to push the team back into the postseason in 2020. In addition to rising junior Donlon, Sean Mowatt-Larssen led the team with 28 goals and 36 points during his rookie season. Rising junior Brian Geffroy also scored 14 goals and assisted on 13 more while Blake Brinster started 11 contest for the Fords in the midfield during his first-year. Anthony Vizzoni and Colby Ferrigno also saw significant time in the starting lineup. Haverford is slated to return 28 players from this year's team, with 20 of those individuals having at least two more seasons with the Fords.