HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's lacrosse team (6-3, 2-0 CC) pushed its Centennial Conference record to 2-0 with a 19-14 win over visiting Muhlenberg (7-2, 0-2 CC) on Saturday afternoon at Swan Field. In a fast-paced battle, the Fords held off the Mules behind some strong offensive performances.
Reigning Centennial Conference Player Offensive Player of the Week Tiffany Mikulis continued her scorching start to the season with six goals, two assists, three ground balls and four draw controls. Katharine Ference made her presence felt in the midfield with a four-goal, one-assist effort, to go with a season-best nine draw controls. Sam Silverman also added a hat-trick while Brooke Epstein tallied two goals.
Muhlenberg opened the scoring with a goal from Nicole Steiner with 10:30 remaining in the first, but Haverford jetted out on a run from that point, with Mikulis providing the equalizer before Jacquelyn Jardini tallied and Ference added consecutive strikes for a 4-2 lead. Epstein scored just before the first quarter buzzer as Haverford went ahead 5-3.
Muhlenberg did not go away quietly, with Steiner and Samantha Eynon providing an offensive spark to trim the Mules deficit to just three, at 8-5 with 11:55 left in the first half. Haverford had an answer, pushing the tempo with a 3-0 run that saw a pair of Silverman goals as well as Mikulis finding the back of the cage off a feed from Abby Bonner. Throughout the contest, it seemed as if Muhlenberg had an answer for every Haverford run, as the visitors kept themselves in the contest, down four at the half following goals from Jillian Kubibowski and Emily Vaughan.
The Fords regained the momentum after the intermission, jetting out on a 3-0 lead with Lia Herzig scoring the first goal of the second half before Mikulis added two more for a 15-8 advantage at 7:58 remaining. Muhlenberg found the back of the net with strikes from Ava Milia and Emily Gaffney to trim the lead back to five, and Muhlenberg was within four at the end of the third as Milia completed a 2-0 run of her own, taking a feed from Gaffney.
Haverford had designs on putting the game away in what ended up becoming a defensive minded final stanza. Mikulis again lit the lamp with 9:29 to go, and Silverman tallied a free-position as Haverford was back up by six with 6:35 to play. Steiner tallied in the waning moments, but the Fords defensive unit did well to keep the Mules off guard. Lauren Anderson, Eva Baumann and Alexis Brown helped key that unit, with Anderson adding a caused turnover while Baumann and Brown grabbed two each.
Bravacos also kept the Mules off guard, with 11 saves in a standout turn between the pipes. The Fords held a commanding 23-13 edge on the draws, which was crucial in the fourth quarter as Haverford took a 4-0 edge in that statistics over the final 15 minutes of play.
Muhlenberg held a slight edge in shots, 32-31, but the Fords made the most of their opportunities with an efficient shooting day that included 27 of its 31 shots on frame.
Haverford will next return to action on Wednesday, April 5 as the Fords head down to Chestertown, Maryland for a much anticipated battle with Washington College at approximately 6 p.m.