HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's soccer team created several opportunities during Saturday's Centennial Conference 1-0 defeat against Johns Hopkins. The Fords (9-3-1, 2-3-1 CC) saw what they thought was an early goal waved off due to offsides, hit the crossbar in the opening half, and saw a potential bid at goal ricochet off the post in the second half. In the end, it was a Blue Jays' (9-3-1, 5-1-0 CC) penalty kick that was the only offense Saturday afternoon.
In a fairly even statistical battle, Johns Hopkins took nine shots compared to six from the Fords. The Blue Jays also had a 7-3 edge in corner kicks for the match, but it was Haverford that held a 3-1 edge in that category during the final 45 minutes of play. Of those offensive chances, the only blemish on either defense's sheet was Meg Van de loo turning that penalty kick chance into offense for her 12th goal of the season.
Haverford came out with the game's first offensive chance of the afternoon on a shot that sailed over the crossbar. The Blue Jays recorded each of their five shots in the opening half during the first 22-plus minutes of game action. Ali Weiner made two saves to keep the visitors off the board early.
The Fords thought they had the go-ahead goal during that span of Johns Hopkins' offensive attacks; however, a goal was called back with the side official whistling the hosts for offsides. Haverford also created another great chance in the 43rd minute. An Ali Lopez shot hit the post before the Johns Hopkins' keeper had a chance to make a save on the rebound attempt as the sides remained scoreless at the break. Just three minutes into the second half, Skyler Ellenburg saw her attempt at the game's first goal hit off the crossbar in another created scoring chance for the Fords.
Johns Hopkins was the first team to crack the scoreboard in the 72nd minute of play. The Fords were whistled for a foul in the box and the Centennial Conference's leading goal scorer capitalized on that chance. Haverford was called offsides two more times in the final 12 minutes of game action as it searched for an equalizer to deny any scoring chances from developing. The Fords also had a corner kick in the final 1:30 of play but did not convert that one final chance.
Both Lopez and Ellenburg finished the game with two shots for the Fords. Weiner made four saves on the afternoon, while a team save courtesy of Sydney West kept the game a one-goal difference with her stop in the 84th minute of play.
Women's soccer will now travel for a pair of Centennial Conference road matchups this week. The first of those will be a quick trip to Bryn Mawr on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. start. The Fords head to McDaniel next Saturday before closing out the regular season with a pair of home dates.