COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - The Haverford College women's lacrosse team took a major step towards qualifying for the Centennial Conference playoffs for the third year in a row with a convincing, 12-7, win over host Ursinus College on Wednesday night.
The Fords (6-9, 4-4 CC) move into a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots with the victory while the Bears (8-7, 4-4) fall out of sole possession of fourth place with the loss.
Scoring two unassisted goals separated by less than a minute, Alexis Bond pushed Haverford out to a 3-1 advantage just 11 minutes into the contest. Ursinus answered at 17:58 to make it a one-goal game before Josie Ferri found Diana Perry, and then four minutes later connected with Jen Schmidt, for consecutive tallies to move the Fords ahead 5-2.
The Bears responded with two of their own, but Haverford scored four straight in the final eight minutes of the half to take a 9-4 lead into intermission.
Emily Diehl moved Ursinus within four when she opened the scoring four minutes into the second half but Ferri diminished all thoughts of a Bears' rally with back-to-back tallies midway through the half to extend the Fords' lead to six, 11-5.
Bond recorded the first three-goal game of her career when she closed out the scoring for Haverford with 10:39 to go in the contest.
Finishing with three goals and two assists, Ferri took game-high honors in points. This marks the fifth time this season that Ferri has registered a five-point effort.
Schmidt chipped in with two goals while Perrin Downing added two goals and an assist. The Fords converted one free position shot as Perry connected for her second of the night and 24th goal of the season. Alexa Pesce's two assists on the night gives her 83 for her career which establishes a new program record.
The Fords also won the ground ball battle, 19-15, as Grace Stockbower and Leah Hammerschlag tallied three apiece.
Making 11 saves on the night, Hammerschlag (6-9) put forth a solid effort in goal to earn her sixth win of the season.
Lauren Garganio scored two goals to lead Ursinus while Riley Pembroke (4-6) took the loss in goal.
Haverford, looking for a berth in the conference playoffs, hosts rival Swarthmore College in the final game of the regular season on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.