LOS ANGELES - The No. 25 Haverford College women's lacrosse team (3-2) returned to the win column with a convincing 21-6 win over Occidental (2-4) on Friday at Patterson Field in the Eagle Rock section of the City of Angels.
The Fords were paced by the quartet of Kat Ference (four goals), Bella Guttuso (four goals) Sam Silverman (three goals), and Tiffany Mikulis (three goals) as that grouping contributed to 18 different goals. Katharine Ference dished out a team-high three assists on the evening.
It was all Haverford in the opening period of ation. Mikulis wasted little time getting the Fords on the board first, scoring a tally at the 14:27 mark. Ference doubled the lead moments later with a solo effort toward the goal. Occidental pulled one back at the 10:30 mark but the Fords outscored the hosts 6-2 in the remainder of the first.
Nancy Tucker scored both of her goals in the first period with Julia Curran also getting on the scoresheet. Ference secured the early hat trick, notching two more goals in the period as she looked to get her teammates involved for the remainder of the game. The action was a bit slow in the second period with only five goals between the two teams. However, Haverford was on the better end of the scoreline, scoring three of those goals after already building up a sizable early lead.
Ellie Hughes scored her first goal of the game in the second period as the Fords continued to dominate the contest. Abby Bonner found Hughes with a beautiful pass and the Sophomore was in a perfect spot to slot the ball past the goalkeeper. Ference notched the final goal of the period with Haverford leading 11-5 at halftime.
It took until the 13:43 mark of the third period for Silverman to score her first goal, notching a tally off the pass from Ference. Silverman completed her hattrick by the 5:39 mark, contributing to a 6-0 run as Haverford led the Tigers by a convincing margin at 16-5.
Brooke Epstein scored for the Fords during that stretch with 10:26 on the clock, her second goal of the season. Reilly Curran and Bella Gattuso registered assists in the third period for two of Silverman's goals. Gattuso got herself on the scoresheet after firing a shot past the Occidental goalie for the first goal of her Haverford career.
Gattuso doubled her goal tally to open the fourth period as the Fords were still riding a scoring run, extending it to 8-0. Reilly Curran scored the first goal of her Haverford career at the 9:16 mark of the fourth before Occidental finally ended the scoring run at the 7:30 mark.
Showing no signs of slowing down, Gattuso completed her hat-trick after back-to-back goals for the Fords to cap off a terrific performance in Los Angeles.
Haverford scored on 21 of their 34 shot attempts, showing supreme efficiency on a chilly by California standards Friday. Mikulis led the way for the Fords in draw controls, winning six. On the defensive end, Eva Baumann and Reilly Curran paced the Fords with two caused turnovers while six Fords registered two ground balls.
Annie Bravacos had very little to do between the pipes as the Haverford defense didn't allow Occidental to see much of the goal. Bravacos finished with five saves on the day.
Women's Lacrosse now returns home to take on a formidable Scranton side on Tuesday, March 14 in hopes of making it two wins in a row. The contest is slated for 4 p.m. on Swan Field as weather rendered playing in the Electric City impossible.