BRYN MAWR, Pa. – The Haverford College women's soccer team clinched its spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament with a 5-1 win over Bi-Co neighbor Bryn Mawr on Tuesday afternoon. The victory guarantees that the Fords (12-2-2, 6-1-2 CC) will now be making their fourth straight trip the postseason and their 11th conference tournament appearance over the past 13 seasons.
Three different players had their hands in two of the Fords' goals on Tuesday. Celia Page scored twice while Saede Eifrig picked up a pair of assists. Gabrielle Cipriano had a goal and an assist while Mia Reyes and Kendra Griesman also found the back of the net. Alyssa Saito added the helper on the Fords' final goal of the afternoon.
Haverford struck quickly and was up 2-0 just over three minutes into the match. Page got the scoring started just 2:56 into the contest off a pass from Cipriano. Cipriano then got into the scoring act herself just seconds later as she finished a pass from Eifrig for her second goal of the season. Haverford went into the halftime break with a 3-0 lead after Reyes converted her second penalty kick in as many attempts this season during the 38th minute of play.
Haverford scored its final two goals during the opening 20 minutes of the second half, eventually running its advantage to 5-0. Page's second half goal was the 10th of her rookie campaign and makes her the sixth first-year in program history to score at least 10 goals in a season. Lauren Kibbe '09, who had a first-year record 12 goals during her rookie campaign in 2005, was the most recent player to accomplish that feat. Eifrig set up that goal for her second assist of the afternoon as she is now second in the Centennial Conference with eight helpers on the year.
The Fords capped their scoring during the 63rd minute of play off a direct kick. Saito played the free kick into the box where Griesman was waiting to finish on the far post. The goal was Griesman's fifth this year while Saito was credited with her second helper of the season on the play. Bryn Mawr did get one of those goals back as Paige Mastripolito scored with just under 10 minutes remaining to deny the Fords' shutout bid.
With its spot in the playoffs now secure, Haverford will look to secure its playoff positioning this weekend. The Fords are currently tied for first place with Dickinson and two points ahead of Johns Hopkins but each of those teams have two more contests remaining on their schedule.
Haverford can guarantee itself a top three seed and a first round bye into the semifinals with a win on Saturday in the regular season finale against Swarthmore and potentially finish higher than that depending on the rest of the results around the conference. That rivalry match against Swarthmore will start at 12 p.m. noon on Walton Field and will also be Senior Day for the six seniors on Haverford's team.