ITHACA, N.Y. - The 22nd-ranked Haverford College women's lacrosse team (12-6) fell in the NCAA First Round to Atlantic East Champion Cabrini (12-7), by an 18-15 final on Saturday at Higgins Stadium on the Ithaca College campus, concluding the 2022 season with its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991.
Cabrini largely found its advantage with a 26-10 edge in draw controls, and fired 33 shots to just 25 for the Fords. Haverford tallied eight of its 15 goals via free-position opportunities while turnovers were even at 10-10 on the afternoon. Callie Crawford was the leading goal scorer for Haverford in her final contest for the Fords, posting six tallies. Sam Silverman and Tiffany Mikulis each also had two goal days.
Haverford got on the board twice in the opening three minutes with quick strikes from Crawford off the first free-position attempt of the contest, before an assist from Crawford on Sam Silverman's goal to extend the early advantage to 2-0 with 12:37 showing on the clock. On the very next Haverford possession, Julia Curran took a feed from Ference in front of the goal mouth and tallied to extend the lead to 3-0. Another free-position strike from Crawford extended the lead to 4-0, prompting a Cabrini timeout, and Jordan Denaver then tallied from the eight-meter spot to push the run to 5-0 with just over eight minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Cabrini ended the run promptly with a goal from Dana Carlson, and then tallied a free-position strike by Olivia Little with 7:45 remaining to trim the Haverford lead to just three. Little then tallied again with 2:04 to play in the stanza, as suddenly Cabrini had a burst of momentum on a quick 3-0 run. At the end of the first quarter, it was Mikulis grabbing a buzzer-beating shot, taking a feed from Jordan Denaver and gliding a shot past Sam Hamalak to restore the three-goal cushion at 6-3.
Cabrini then got one back quickly, but Ference expertly found Hannah Lopez in front of the cage as the senior slid home Haverford's seventh goal of the game. A 2-0 Cabrini spurt trimmed the Haverford lead to just one at 7-6 with 11:29 remaining, and the Cavaliers tied the contest at 7-7 with 10:26 showing on the first half clock as Little got one past Cahn, prompting a Haverford timeout.
The impressive run continued for the Cavs well into the second quarter, with Carlson and Little again teaming up for a goal to give Cabrini its first lead of the contest at 8-7 with 8:12 remaining in the first half. Little added a free-position for an insurance goal, going ahead 9-7 entering the intermission.
Little was seemingly unstoppable for Cabrini, as the AEC Player of the Year logged seven total goals including the opener of the second half scoring, keying a 5-1 run as the Cavs wrestled control of the game up 14-8 with 6:58 left in the third. From that point, Haverford found its rhythm as they were able to win some draws down the stretch, jetting out on a 5-1 run of their own, thanks to some strong free-position attempts, to pull back within two as Mikulis trimmed the Cabrini lead to its smallest margin of the second half.
Goals from Nancy Tucker and Ference down the stretch had the Fords again within that two-goal margin, but Cabrini was able to force some yellow cards from the Fords, taking advantage of that extra attacker to lengthen possessions and trim the clock in the waning moments. Olivia Pace tallied in the closing seconds to reflect the three-goal final margin.
Sarah Cahn was a force between the pipes for the Fords, making 11 saves and scooping two ground balls on the afternoon.
The Fords end the season with a 12-6 overall mark, and entered the national poll for most of the regular season and postseason, holding steady at No. 22 entering the NCAA tournament.
With the end of the season comes the final career games for the senior class of Roma Hladky, Maria Krieg, Callie Crawford, Hannah Lopez, Kate Severtson, Sarah Cahn and Caroline Alexis, as the group combined to usher a young group of Fords coming off of two shortened seasons to one of the finest seasons in program history.