HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's soccer team toppled 20th-ranked Swarthmore College, 3-0, in Centennial Conference action Tuesday afternoon at Walton Field.
The victory clinches third place in the league standings for the Fords (12-2-2, 7-2 CC) with one game left to play in the regular season. The top five teams qualify for the Centennial postseason tournament which begins next Wednesday with the 4 vs. 5 game.
Haverford got on the board quickly against the nationally-ranked Garnet (12-4, 6-3) as Katie Van Aken's header, off a pass from teammate Hannah Davis from deep in the right corner, beat Swarthmore goalie Marie Mutryn in the game's 13th minute.
Both teams had opportunities over the remaining minutes of the first half and into the second half but defense and solid goalie play from Mutryn and Haverford's Kayleigh Herrick-Reynolds kept the score at 1-0 in favor of the Fords.
In the 69th minute Michele Buonora sent a ball out to the left wing just inside the box where Erin Verrier gathered it and launched a high, arcing shot off her left foot that sailed just under the crossbar in the upper right corner to give the Fords a two-goal lead and some breathing room.
Two minutes later Erin Dowling cleared a ball from the Haverford end up the left sideline where teammate Katie Bigay was able to outrace a pushed up Garnet defense to the ball just past the mid-line. Bigay carried it deep into the box to the left of the goal where she got off a shot from near the goal line which beat Mutryn and one last, desperate defender to ice the game for the home team.
Herrick-Reynolds picked up five saves in the win and the shutout was her ninth of the season. Mutryn had two saves in taking the loss for Swarthmore.
The final regular season game for the Fords will be Saturday at McDaniel College. Haverford will then take on the second place team in one of the conference tournament semifinals Saturday, Nov. 7, at the site of the top seed.
As for the Hood Trophy — the friendly competition between Haverford and Swarthmore which the Fords have won every year since a tie in 1997-98 — Tuesday's women's soccer win earns the initial point of the 2009-10 battle.