HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 showdown to No. 6 Franklin & Marshall on Saturday afternoon. Playing a rematch of last year's Centennial Conference Championship, the Diplomats (8-1, 2-0 CC) scored the first two goals before a furious comeback attempt from the No. 21 Fords (3-3-2, 1-1 CC) ran out of time in this battle of top 25 opponents.
The two sides went scoreless into the halftime break with the Diplomats holding an 8-4 advantage in shots. However, five saves from reigning Division III Player of the Week Dylan Ioffreda kept the visitors off the scoreboard. His counterpart, Chris Amoruso, made two saves during the first half and finished with four on the afternoon.
Franklin & Marshall struck first during the 50th minute when the Diplomats' Dallen Moore found Shay Adamson inside the 18 on a nice low cross into the box for a finish on the far post. Just under six minutes later, Alex Lalovic took a pass from Kane Feudnter just outside of the 18 and was able to finish to put his side up 2-1.
Down two goals and with just over 35 minutes to play, the Fords regrouped and took four of the match's next five shots. Those efforts were rewarded during the 72nd minute of play when Meinhardt Rentrup found Paul-Andre Coulibaly inside of the 18 for a finish to cut the F&M lead in half. Coulibaly's goal was the sophomore's first. Rentrup was credited with his first assist of the season and second of his career on the play.
Haverford also had chances during the 73rd and 78th minutes of play, but those efforts to find the equalizer traveled high and wide of the net. F&M finished the contest with a 15-9 advantage in shots, but it was the Fords that held a 4-3 edge in corner kick attempts. Ioffreda finished with seven saves on the afternoon while Nick Jannelli led the Fords with four shot attempts.
Men's soccer will now turn the calendar to October as the Fords find themselves on the road for a pair of Centennial Conference clashes this upcoming week. On Wednesday, Haverford makes the trek to Muhlenberg for a 7 p.m. start. Next Saturday, the Fords travel to Gettysburg for another 7 p.m. start against the Bullets.