HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College field hockey team (7-9, 4-5 CC) made a furious comeback from a 3-2 deficit to visiting Ursinus (8-8, 5-4 CC), but could not complete the strong attacking effort down the stretch as the Bears escaped Swan Field by the thinnest of margins. The Fords held a slight 17-14 edge in shots, while Ursinus earned seven corners to six for the hosts.
The Bears struck first with a seventh-minute goal from Jordan Moore. She added her Centennial-leading 15th goal of the season with the tally, which came off a penalty corner try as Laura Rothschild was credited with the assist. Ursinus went back on the offensive following the goal, tallying a pair of shots in the eighth minute from Tara Starita and Moore as the Bears seemed to pepper the cage.
Just over two minutes after the Moore goal, Ursinus added to that lead as Gigi Testa notched her first goal of the season after an initial missed shot was redirected off a Haverford stick and found the waiting stick of Testa. In the second quarter, it was Mary Lauren Franz adding her fifth goal of the season after Ellie Bruggeman had her shot saved by Smith. The redirection off of Smith found Franz in good position to rocket home the third tally of the game.
Undaunted, Haverford had a strong game plan for the second half, using penalty corner tries and some crisp passing to get right back into the contest. On the first penalty corner opportunity of the second half, Dalia Bercow inserted a pass to Olivia Ahart, who hammered home her second goal of the season in the 33rd minute.
The Fords kept chasing, with the next seven shots of the contest coming off Haverford sticks. In total, the hosts held a commanding 8-0 edge in shots in the stanza. With Haverford on the doorstep of another goal, Ursinus was content to play possession as Haverford rattled off another pair of shots in quick succession to open the fourth. After going down a player due to a yellow card, the Fords got back into the circle with a corner try in the 52nd minute. This time, Bercow found the stick of Delaney Snowden, who fired in a strong shot for her sixth goal of the season.
Ursinus was awarded a penalty stroke in the 54th minute of action, but Lauren Breisch fired wide of cage, keeping the Fords right in the contest down the stretch. Haverford was frenetically trying to earn a penalty corner down the stretch, but Ursinus did well to clamp down defensively to deny Haverford any chance at the attacking third in the waning moments.
Mary Smith made seven saves in the cage in her 16th start of the season while Rebecca Donahue was credited with a defensive save after clearing a ball off the backline. Snowden, Ahart and Anna Bradley each had four shots. Moore added seven shots to pace Ursinus in that category.
Haverford now returns to action on Saturday, heading to rival Swarthmore for a key clash as the race for the Centennial Conference playoffs will enter the final day of the regular season. First pass for the Fords and Garnet in a Hood Trophy rivalry game is slated for 4 p.m.