HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's soccer team (2-2-2) played to a tie against Arcadia (3-2-1) on Wednesday afternoon at Swan Field, jolting out to a 2-0 lead before two late goals from the visiting Knights forced the Fords to settle for the draw in the midweek clash.
Marking their third consecutive appearance on Swan Field, the Fords looked to establish the pace of play on the faster turf under ideal afternoon conditions on campus. Haverford scored its first goal of the contest in just the fifth minute of action. Caleb Miller sent a volley into Alex Millones who added his second tally of the season with a wonderfully placed finish towards the bottom corner of the goal, giving the Fords the early momentum.
With All-Centennial defender Max Mouer back in the lineup, Haverford did well to deal with early challenges from Arcadia, frustrating the visitors into some less than ideal looks in the attacking third. Haverford had some chances on its offensive side well into the latter stages of the first half, with Andrew Fritz and Andrew Stephens each getting solid looks on frame before the teams headed to intermission.
In the second half, the Fords went back in attack mode, doubling the advantage to 2-0 in the 53rd minute. Again it was Caleb Miller sending a lob into the box and the waiting foot of Paul-Andre Coulibaly. Coulibaly added his fourth goal of the season as his first touch off of Miller's pass floated over the Arcadia goalkeeper and towards the far post.
Arcadia went in search of goals to cut into the Haverford lead, and did so with aplomb in the 75th minute with Thomas Hoy sending a corner kick into the box where Giancarlo Ciotoli was waiting to trim the lead to just one. Ciotoli then found the equalizer off a long downfield pass from Gunnar Swanger. Suddenly in great position off the counterattack after a Haverford corner, Swanger pushed the ball downfield to his teammate, who chipped a shot into the back of the net with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation for his second goal of the half.
Haverford was then forced to chase the go-ahead goal and did well to apply pressure down the stretch, earning a corner opportunity that led to another salvo from Millones before both Coulibaly and Brian Lorenz had admirable chances in the final four minutes of play. In total, Haverford fired 17 shots while Arcadia finished with 19. Dylan Ioffreda made five saves in his 90 minutes of action between the pipes.
The meeting was just the third-all time between Arcadia and Haverford. Last season, the Fords added a 2-1 road win in overtime as the two teams renewed the series in Glenside.
Haverford will now turn its focus to the Centennial Conference opener on Saturday, September 17 against Dickinson. The battle with the Red Devils is slated for Walton Field at 3 p.m. and will be the second game of a doubleheader that also sees the women's team open the CC slate against the Red Devils at noon.