HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team dropped a tough 2-1 decision in double overtime to the Wesleyan University Cardinals at Walton Field on Saturday afternoon.
These two teams have met two times with both matches going to double overtime. After a 2-2 draw, Haverford took down Wesleyan on penalty kicks (4-3) in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
The Fords' offense registered three corners within the first 10 minutes of game action and had two shots go wide and another just go over the cross bar. In the 14th minute, it looked like Wesleyan scored the first goal of the contest, but the referee called an offside. In the 29th minute, the Cardinals tried to get that goal back, but their two shots off of a corner were blocked and sent high.
Wesleyan seemed to again score the first goal of the contest in the 48th minute, but it was waved off because of another offside. About three minutes later, senior Sam Yarosh drove into the six-yard box and had his shot denied by Cardinals' goalie Jack Katkavich, but sophomore Ben Field sent the rebound into the back of the net for his second goal of the season. It's Field's fifth career goal and gives him tallies in back-to-back games.
Sophomore William Edwards tried to give the home team an insurance goal with back-to-back shots in the 74th and 75th minutes, but Katkavich came up with saves. Two minutes after that, the Cardinals tried to tie the match off a corner, however Haverford goalie Sam Miller came up with a save and another shot went wide. Miller was on top of his game with two more saves as time ticked under the five-minute mark, however the Cardinals got the equalizer with 1:34 to go. Wesleyan's Chris Kafina sent a pass from inside the six-yard box and Danny Rubenstein took care of the rest with a shot into the lower left corner of the net.
The Cardinals had the best chance to get the victory in the first overtime as Brandon Souza hit the post in the 94th minute. Senior Brady Seitz found a streaking Yarosh towards the net on the next trip down the field, but Yarosh's shot was high. Five minutes into the second overtime, sophomore Russell Nicholson came very close to sending the Haverford fans home happy, but Katkavich secured his sixth save of the contest. In the 107th minute, Wesleyan's Nick Hawkins sent a pass across the end line and Kafina buried it to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win.
The two teams played an even contest with Haverford holding a small edge in shots (19-17). The Fords also finished the contest with nine corners while the Cardinals had six. Weselyan's Adam Cowie-Haskell led all players with seven shots while junior Will Corkery paced Haverford with four shots. Miller made six saves in the loss.
Haverford drops to 2-2 on the season while Wesleyan nabbed its first victory of the year (1-1). The Fords will now travel to Montclair St. on Wednesday (7:30 p.m.) and Johns Hopkins on Saturday (1 p.m.) for their first Centennial Conference match of the season.