LANCASTER, Pa. - Sam Yarosh's goal in the 56th minute of the contest proved to be the difference as the Haverford College men's soccer team edged host Franklin & Marshall College, 1-0, Saturday night at Tylus Field in Centennial Conference action. 

The Fords (4-4, 1-1 CC) registered their first conference win of the season with the victory over the Diplomats (6-2, 0-2 CC).

Scoring his third goal of the year, Yarosh broke the scoreless tie just over 10 minutes into the second half as he converted Jamie Reingruber's cross from the right side of the field to the far post. The one touch by Yarosh beat Dips goalie T.J. White (6-2) to the near post.

Haverford's defense did the rest of the work as it held F&M's attack in check throughout the contest and limited the Diplomats, averaging 16.7 shots and 1.87 goals per game, to just 10 shots overall.

The opening half set the tone for the defensive battle as the Fords and F&M, ranked fifth nationally earlier in the season, each registered three shots. Haverford's Andriy Mshanetskyy came up with the lone save of the opening 45 minutes as he corralled Devon Malfitano's shot with just under six minutes on the clock to keep the game scoreless going into intermission.

Making two saves to preserve his second shutout, Mshanetskyy moves to 4-3 on the season.

"I was happy with the way we played tonight," said head coach Shane Rineer. "Our guys went hard and did what we needed to do to win the 50-50 battles. It was a great effort and we will look to continue the intensity against Washington."

Having completed a treacherous stretch of four consecutive road contests, the Fords return to Walton Field on Thursday for a 4 p.m. match-up against the Shoremen.