ASHLAND, Va. - The Haverford College men's lacrosse team (2-2) dropped their second road game of the season, 22-8, to Randolph-Macon (5-0), on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Day Field.
Reid Tietjen continued his hot start to the season, pacing Haverford in the scoring department, with four goals off of seven shots on the day. Danny Hoehler and Ronan West picked up four ground balls each, with the latter causing two turnovers in the battle.
Teddy Carlin paced the Scarlet and Black from the faceoff X winning six draws, while Alexander Wysk came away with five in a reserve role.
The Fords started the scoring in the contest after a Tietjen goal put the visitors up 1-0 at the 12:57 mark. Bubba Bowen of the Yellow Jackets, leveled the game after converting on a man-up advantage with 11:22 remaining in the opening quarter. Randolph-Macon would then pile on the goals scoring four more unanswered goals to quickly go up 5-1 with 4:35 left to go in quarter number one. Tietjen's second goal of the contest snapped the Yellow Jacket scoring run at 3:37, as the Scarlet and Black faced a 5-2 deficit going into the second quarter.
Austin Payne opened up the scoring in the second quarter, ripping a shot past Jacob Abraham to extend the Randolph-Macon lead to 6-2 with 13:24 remaining in the second period. Tietjen then capped off his hat-trick in just the second quarter, pulling the Fords within three goals at 6-3, with 11:27 left on the scoreboard in the first half. Up three goals, the hosts then went on a 7-0 scoring run for the next 8:40 to take a commanding 13-3 lead with 1:40 to go in the opening half. The two teams then traded a goal each in the final minute of the half, with action heading into the halftime break with the Yellow Jackets up 14-4.
Phillip Passalaqua kicked off the third quarter by finding the back of the net to bring the Fords within single digits at 14-5 with 14:02 flashing on the scoreboard. Despite the positive start from the Scarlet and Black, Randolph-Macon went on another menacing 5-0 scoring run, a stretch that also included a man-up goal, to take a 19-5 lead into the final quarter of play.
To begin the fourth quarter, the hosts scored a rare man-down goal to comfortably go up 20-5 with 14:46 remaining in the game. After a Jack Smith goal for the Yellow Jackets with 9:57 remaining, Haverford rattled off three consecutive goals, starting off with Tietjen's fourth of the game. First-years Jacob Anderson and Ethan Waugh then followed up Tietjen's goal with their first career goals to trim Randolph-Macon's lead down to 21-8. One more goal from the Yellow Jackets' Parker Lawler sealed the deal at 22-8.
Next up on the schedule for the Fords is a matchup on Swan Field with FDU-Florham Wednesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. The game will follow the Haverford women's lacrosse match, against #7 York (Pa.) at 4 p.m.