HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's lacrosse team (5-8, 3-3 CC) toppled No. 19 Muhlenberg (9-5, 4-3 CC) on Swan Field Wednesday evening, dispatching the Mules by a 9-5 final behind timely offense and the stellar play of Jacob Abraham between the pipes to stay within striking distance of a CC playoff spot heading into the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
Haverford has now won three consecutive contests, with two of those wins coming against nationally ranked opponents. Abraham notched a career-best 26 saves and allowed only five goals in what was simply a heroic performance for the sophomore, also scooping three ground balls to keep Haverford's transition offense flowing towards the cage all night long.
Offensively, Andrew Arth, Matt Richards, and Reid Tietjen each had a pair of goals to pace the offense, with Kolin Brandeis, Will Graves, and Drew Hoffman also lighting the lamp for Haverford. Richards, Arth, and Danny Hoehler each had a pair of assists while Abraham was also credited with his first career assist on a Brandeis goal in the fourth quarter. Teddy Carlin went 7-of-13 from the faceoff X, and added six ground balls, with Nate Rose notching four to pace Haverford in that category. Hoehler also caused two turnovers to lead the Fords defensively.
In the first quarter, Haverford opened the scoring with a goal from Will Graves, assisted by Matt Richards as the fast-pace offense looked for some highlight reel worthy tallies in the early goings. Muhlenberg responded quickly with two goals, the first by Reed Thompson, and the second by Matthew Hochegger, with the assist going to Jack Kraemer.
In the second quarter, Muhlenberg added one more goal by Kraemer, this time assisted by Dominick Visintin, while Haverford managed to score another from Richards, assisted by Andrew Arth. In a low scoring affair, Haverford trailed 3-2 going into the intermission, not resting on its laurels but certainly happy to be competitive with the formidable Mules.
The third quarter saw the Fords open up the game a bit by scoring four goals, while Muhlenberg managed to score only one goal. Abraham seemingly had an answer for every Muhlenberg shot that came his way. Reid Tietjen scored mere seconds into the second half, with Hoehler finding the first year for a tally with 14:45 to go. The Fords frustrated Muhlenberg, denying the Mules in each of its extra-man opportunities, including some key man-up situations in the third quarter. The Muhlenberg offense never seemed in rhythm, with the Fords swarming approach doing well to keep the visitors off guard.
Arth tallied with 9:10 to go in the frame, and the Fords quick-fire offense got to work off the ensuing faceoff, with Hoffman scoring to give the hosts a two-goal cushion. The Mules pulled one back, cutting the lead to just one with 4:48 left in the third, but Richards scored off an assist from Brandeis with just 14 seconds left in the frame to restore the two-goal lead.
Haverford went back to work, with Abraham turning defense to offense with his assist finding Brandeis with 7:45 left in regulation, firing up the sideline as well as the Swan Field crowd in the waning moments of action. Jason Metz trimmed the lead down to two again, but Haverford did enough to prevail with two goals down the stretch, with Tietjen finding Arth with 7:07 to play and Tietjen scoring off the helper from Hoehler with 5:15 to go.
The two sides were scoreless in the final five minutes of action, as the Haverford penalty kill again withstood two power plays from the Mules. For good measure, Abraham made five more saves in that stretch.
Haverford now faces yet another tough test against a nationally ranked opponent, taking on No. 9 Dickinson on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Carlisle, Pa. The home finale is slated for Saturday, April 29 against Haverford's fifth nationally-ranked opponent in six contests, No. 20 Swarthmore.