HAVERFORD, Pa. – The top-seeded Haverford College men's soccer team rolled past fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins by a 4-1 score Saturday afternoon in its Centennial Conference semifinal. The No. 12 Fords (15-3) have now won 13 in a row and will advance to their fourth Centennial Conference Championship match in the past five seasons.
Haverford got goals from Sam Yarosh, Will Corkery, Ben Field, and Tejan Walcott during the victory. The team will now search for its second Centennial Conference Championship in program history. Tomorrow's match will take place at 1 p.m. against third-seeded Dickinson. The Red Devils were a 1-0 winner against Franklin & Marshall in the second semifinal. A win tomorrow would be the second championship for this year's senior class as the team also captured the 2012 conference title.
The Fords cracked the scoreboard early to open the scoring. Just over seven minutes into the game, Yarosh hit a beautiful shot from 25 yards out as he found the top right corner of goal. Yarosh's tally was his team and conference-leading 16th of the season. Corkery tied for the conference lead with his 12th assist of the year on the goal. The Blue Jays rallied to tie the game in the 38th minute of play as Victor Osio tallied an unassisted goal to knot the game at one-all.
Just when it looked as though the teams were heading into the half tied, the tournament hosts scored twice in the final three minutes of the half to take a 3-1 edge at the half. In the 43rd minute of play, Corkery scored on a direct kick from just outside of the 18 to put the Fords up 2-1. Corkery's seventh goal of the season is also his sixth game-winning goal of the year to tie Yarosh for the Centennial Conference lead in that category.
Even as the clock ticked under a minute remaining in the first half, Haverford was still on the offensive attack. Field finished a great pass from Brady Seitz on a low shot to the far post. His goal put the Fords up 3-1 before the break. Seitz's assist was his fourth of the year.
Haverford added its final goal of the afternoon in the 68th minute of play. The Fords' final goal came on a pass from Colin Seitz that found Walcott in front of goal. Walcott finished for his sixth goal of the year, while Colin Seitz's assist was his second of the season.
The visiting Blue Jays definitely had their chances on the afternoon as they amassed 21 shots for the game. Sam Miller came up with seven huge saves on the afternoon to keep his team in front. Five of those stops came during the final 45 minutes of play as he recorded his 15th victory of the season.
The Fords will now turn their attention to Dickinson tomorrow afternoon for the conference championship at 1 p.m. The Fords were 3-1 winners when these two teams met on Walton Field in mid-October. The Red Devils went up 1-0 early in that match before the Fords responded with three unanswered goals.
The winner of tomorrow's Centennial Conference Championship match will claim the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.