HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team fell by a 1-0 score to visiting Gettysburg on Wednesday afternoon in the first round match of the Centennial Conference Tournament. Playing a scoreless battle for nearly 80 minutes, the Bullets (11-6-1) got a goal from Connor O'Donnell with 10:06 remaining in regulation for what turned out to be the only offense for either side. Gettysburg will now advance to Saturday's semifinal match where the fifth-seeded Bullets will take on top-seeded Franklin & Marshall.
O'Donnell's goal, his second of the season, came on a shot just outside of the 18 where he put a perfectly placed ball into the upper 90. The Centennial Conference's leading goal scorer, Oladayo Thomas, was credited with the assist on that game-winning goal.
Haverford's 1-0 setback came in spite of the fact that the Fords held a 17-13 advantage in shots throughout the match. Nevertheless, five saves from Gettysburg goalie Thomas Keane kept the Fords off the scoreboard. The Bullets also got a defensive save to deny a shot with the goalie out of the net and just over three minutes to play in the opening half.
The Fords finished with three shots on goal during each half, while Gettysburg scored on one of its four shots on goal. Haverford also racked up a 10-5 advantage in corner kicks. Pushing for the equalizer late in the contest, Haverford had three shots and one corner attempt during the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Sykes Cargile was able to put the only attempt on net in that remaining time, while Nick Jannelli saw his shot knocked down by the Gettysburg defense. Haverford's final attempt came with just eight seconds left in regulation as that last-ditch effort from Noah Schwab traveled wide of the net and allowed Gettysburg to kill the remaining time off the clock.
With today's elimination from the Centennial Conference Tournament, the Fords will now need to hold onto their outside shot of being selected as an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Fords currently sit at 9-6-3 overall but were ranked fifth in the latest NCAA regional rankings which were announced this afternoon.