Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/23/26
From Press Release
The No. 23 Haverford College women’s lacrosse team (11-5, 6-1 CC) secured a thrilling 13–12 overtime victory over Washington College (10-5, 4-3 CC) on Swan Field Wednesday evening.
Trailing 12–9 with just 4:52 remaining, the Fords used late goals from Kylie McNamara (Lenape-NJ), Daniela Martini, and Mikelle Smith to force overtime, where the Scarlet and Black completed the comeback.
Bella Gattuso (Tower Hill-DE) led the offense with four goals and one assist. Brooke Epstein added two goals, including the overtime winner, while controlling seven draw controls. Smith contributed three goals, while Alexis Brown collected a career-high five ground balls. Finley Jordan and Lauren Anderson (Penn Charter, 2GB) each caused three turnovers, and Shaina Lewis made nine saves in goal.
The Shorewomen opened the scoring at 14:21 of the first quarter, as Piper Evans found the back of the net to make the score 1–0. Haverford answered quickly, with Gattuso scoring at 12:58 to even the contest at 1–1. Washington College regained the lead on a goal from Mac Grogan at 10:10, making it 2–1, but the Fords responded again as Gattuso netted her second at 7:47 to tie the score at 2–2.
The Scarlet and Black then took control, as Epstein scored at 4:00 to give Haverford a 3–2 advantage. McNamara followed with a player-down goal at 2:18 to extend the lead to 4–2, before Gattuso completed her first-quarter hat trick off a Sophie Jaffe assist with 39 seconds remaining, pushing the score to 5–2 at the end of the opening frame.
WAC surged in the second quarter, beginning with back-to-back goals from Mia Salvatierra just seconds into the period to cut the deficit to 5–4. Haverford responded with a Smith tally, assisted by Gattuso, at 12:55 to make the score 6–4. However, the Shorewomen continued their push, as Malery Andrews scored twice in quick succession to even the score at 6–6. Evans then added a late goal with 22 seconds remaining, giving Washington College a 7–6 lead at halftime.
The third quarter remained tightly contested. Louisa Coughlin opened the scoring for the Fords at 12:43, off a Jaffe assist, to tie the game at 7–7. Gattuso followed at 11:49 to give Haverford an 8–7 edge, but Grogan answered at 11:12 to level the score at 8–8. Salvatierra then put the Shorewomen back in front at 5:44, making it 9–8, before Smith responded at 3:53 to tie things once again at 9–9. A player-up goal from Elisabeth Braswell at 2:55 gave Washington College a 10–9 lead heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, the Shorewomen built a three-goal cushion, as Evans scored on a free-position attempt at 9:39 to make it 11–9, then added another at 4:52 to extend the lead to 12–9. The Fords responded with urgency, beginning with McNamara’s goal at 3:54 to cut the deficit to 12–10. Martini followed at 1:38 to make the score 12–11, and Smith scored a clutch goal with just 34 seconds remaining to tie the game at 12–12, forcing overtime.
In overtime, Washington College controlled the opening draw, but Brown came up with a key ground ball after a blocked shot to give possession back to Haverford. Moments later, Braswell was issued a green card for a hit from behind on Brown, putting the Fords on the player-up advantage. It was there that Haverford capitalized, as Epstein scored the game-winner with a blistering shot past WAC goalkeeper Maddy Kissinger with 3:55 remaining to secure the 13–12 victory.
Haverford returns to action on Saturday, April 25, traveling to Hood Trophy rival Swarthmore for a noon matchup in its final regular-season game. Haverford can clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament with a win over Swarthmore combined with either a Franklin & Marshall victory over Muhlenberg or a Washington College win over Gettysburg.
