HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's lacrosse team (7-1) pulled off an upset victory in overtime over 22nd-Christopher Newport, as first-year Natalie Bole's game-winning goal capped off an 8-7 triumph for the Fords on Swan Field Saturday afternoon. The 7-1 start to the season marks the best start to a season for Haverford since the 2018 season.
The Fords were bolstered by Annie Bravacos, who made several key stops late in the game to deny the Captains, as the senior made seven clutch saves off of 14 shots faced, while scooping up a team-high four ground balls in the contest. Offensively, Brooke Epstein led the charge for the Scarlet and Black, scoring three goals to go along with one assist and five draw controls. On the defensive side of the ball, Kylie McNamara, Bella Gattuso, and Finley Jordan, all caused two turnovers each.
Haverford opened up the scoring in the opening quarter, as an unassisted goal each from Bella Gattuso and Brooke Epstein just 45 seconds apart put the Fords up 2-0 at the 12:05 mark. Following a Christopher Newport goal from Elena Sorkin at 10:48, the Scarlet and Black closed out the first quarter with goals from Gattuso and Epstein once again to head into the second quarter up 4-1.
Rookie Natalie Bole extended the Haverford lead to 5-1 off a free position shot just 20 seconds in the second stanza, before goals from Drew Stanley (13:06) and Kate Lamendola (6:24), pulled the Captains to within two, 5-3, at the intermission.
With 10:10 flashing on the scoreboard in the third, a goal from Christopher Newport's Maelyn Eversole brought the lead down to just 5-4, before goals from Kylie McNamara (8:16) and Brooke Epstein (7:36), tallies were both assisted by Sophie Jaffe, gave the Fords a 7-4 advantage headed into the final quarter of the matchup.
Unfortunately for the Scarlet and Black, it was all Captains in the fourth quarter, as a goal from Stanley (12:29) and two goals from Sorkin (7:15 and 5:08) forced overtime with the two teams knotted up at 7-7.
A late fourth quarter penalty from Jordan put the Scarlet and Black down a player to begin the overtime period, but some extremely stout defending and a clutch free-position save by Bravacos turned away the menacing Christopher Newport player-up advantage. Following another massive stop by Bravacos at the 3:10 mark, Haverford finally got orchestrated on offense. After a Tiffany Mikulis shot went wide, passing around the horn led to Epstein dishing off an entry pass to Bole, who fired a shot past Captain's goalie Hadley Chadwick to give the Fords their second-straight victory over a ranked team, defeating the Captains 8-7 in overtime.
A tough two-game slate now awaits women's lacrosse, as the Fords will host yet another ranked opponent in No. 17 Amherst on Wednesday, March 19, at 4 p.m. on Swan Field, before opening up Centennial Conference play on Saturday, March 22, at Ursinus. First draw with the Bears is scheduled for 12 p.m. in Collegeville.