ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. - Ending the spring break week against St. Mary's (Md.), the Haverford College women's lacrosse team (4-0) held on to remain undefeated with a 16-12 victory over the host Seahawks (2-3) at Jamie L. Roberts Stadium. After a less than average third period, the Fords battled through harsh weather conditions to outscore the Seahawks 6-2 in the final quarter to pull away for a huge road win.
At least for the first half, the weather did not have as much impact as initially thought. The field stayed pretty clear, and both teams didn't seem to be affected, even by the chilly weather, with wind chills hitting the upper teens at times.
The Fords fell behind 2-0 early to start the game, but Haverford never seemed rattled. The team has put on scoring clinics, and the game against St. Mary's was no different. Katharine Ference scored her fourth goal of the season to pull a goal back as the assist went to Roma Hladky. Ference later set up her teammate Hannah Lopez to tie the game up at two. From there, Haverford scored two more unanswered goals to end the period. Callie Crawford got on the board with a beautiful goal set up by Lizzie Healy. Lopez scored her second goal of the game with the assist going to Sam Silverman.
The scoring continued for the Fords in the second period as they tallied four goals in the stanza. Crawford completed her hat-trick, scoring her ninth and tenth goal of the season before the seven-minute mark. Adding to her assists for the game, Silverman scored her tenth goal of the season with 5:35 remaining until halftime. At that point, St. Mary's were forced to take a timeout to slow down the momentum the Fords had built. It worked for about two minutes until Silverman scored from the free position spot, making the score 8-2 in favor of the Fords.
In total, Haverford scored eight unanswered goals, their largest run of the season, before the Seahawks would finally bring it to an end. With three seconds remaining until halftime and a player up, St. Mary's found the back of the net to make the score 8-3 before the halftime buzzer.
St. Mary's started the second half on the front foot, causing Haverford some problems early on. With the snow and wind picking up, the Seahawks scored three goals in the opening four minutes. St. Mary's can attribute their goals to their dominating effort on the draw controls. Haverford looked flat to start the second half and finally gained possession with 11:30 on the clock.
The Fords' first shot attempt of the half went wide, and the Seahawks quickly rushed back down the field with eyes on trimming the Fords' lead to one. However, a turnover from Hailey Betch gave possession back to the Fords, and they capitalized. Crawford scored her fourth goal of the game to make the score 9-6.
At the 8:47 mark of the third period, a free position goal from St. Mary's Colin Horton cut the lead back to two. But, again, the draw controls from the Seahawks caused problems for the Fords. St. Mary's won five of the opening six draw controls, allowing themselves to control the game's pace. But, despite losing out on possession so often, Haverford did damage control by scoring key goals when needed. The Ford's scored their tenth goal of the game when Hladky fired a shot into the back of the net to push the lead back to three. It was Hladky's 11th goal of the season.
Things would get worse for Haverford towards the end of the period. The Seahawks slowly chipped away at the lead, and by the quarter's end, the score had knotted up at ten. It was undoubtedly a third period to forget for the Fords. Haverford lost eight out of ten draw controls, and St. Mary's outshot the Fords 11-5, thoroughly outplaying the visitors. The final period would be important for the Fords if they hoped to keep their unbeaten record.
The wind again picked up, and the field became covered with snow, making it hard to seed the field lines. However, that didn't stop both teams from going toe to toe. The Seahawks took their first lead since the first period with a goal from Bella Dunigan. In response, goals from Hlady, Tiffany Mikulis, and Ference gave the Fords a two-goal lead.
St. Mary's added a late score, but Haverford seemed to have things under control at that point, as they were finally able to pick up some possession from the draw controls. Hladky registered a hat trick with her goal at the 5:21 mark. The assist went to Ference, her third of the game. Mikilus scored her seventh goal of the season to make the score 15-12, and Crawford's fifth goal of the game put things out of reach in the final minute.
After a big week on the spring break trip, the Fords remain unbeaten on the season in hopes of cracking the national rankings next week. The women's lacrosse team will return to play on Tuesday, March 15, to take on No. 10 ranked TCNJ. The game's first draw control is set for 4 p.m in Ewing, N.J.