BALTIMORE – Playing a grudge match following a tie with Swarthmore one weekend ago, the Haverford College women's soccer team fell in the Centennial Conference semifinals to the No. 21 Garnet (14-3-1) by a 2-1 score on Saturday night. Second-seeded Swarthmore will now move on to Sunday's conference championship against top-seeded Johns Hopkins after the Blue Jays advanced via penalty kicks against McDaniel during Saturday's first semifinal.
Leanne Ludwick injected the Fords with a ton of momentum when she scored an unassisted goal to tie the game with 21:12 remaining in regulation. However, Swarthmore put away the game-winning goal with just 5:43 to play. After rallying from a deficit once, the Fords were unable to track down their second such tally of the contest in that remaining time.
The first goal of Saturday's playoff match came in the 23rd minute when Centennial Conference goal and point leader Marin McCoy tallied on a direct kick. McCoy drew a highly-contested foul just outside of the 18 to earn that opportunity. The Garnet offensive leader tallied her 17th goal of the season as she found the upper left hand corner of the goal.
Ludwick's goal came just 23:48 into the second half. The Fords' sophomore gathered the possession near the top of the 18 after a 50-50 ball found its way onto her foot. Ludwick dribbled into the right hand side of the 18 and lofted a shot over the outstretch arms of the Swarthmore goalie to knot the game. Her goal was the third of her season.
Even with momentum seemingly swung in the Fords' direction, Swarthmore's Sydney Covitz gave her team the lead for good in the 85th minute. Covitz took a cross into the box from Katie Dougherty and finished from close range for her third goal of the season.
The Garnet racked up a 16-4 advantage in shots during the 90 minute contest, but were largely thwarted throughout thanks in large part to eight saves from Haverford goalie Julie Hanss. Her recent effort came after she stopped a season-high nine shots during the double overtime contest between these schools last weekend.
The Fords conclude the 2017 season with an overall record of 9-6-2. Tonight's contest also marked the final collegiate match for the nine members of the women's soccer program's Class of 2018. Highlighted by back-to-back postseason appearances during the past two years, the Fords won 37 contests and earned 11 more draws during those past four seasons.