CHC men fall to Fords in opener

by TOM UTESCHER

When it comes to the sport of intercollegiate men’s soccer, Haverford has been at it a little longer than Chestnut Hill. The booters at the Main Line school launched their 101st season last Saturday with a 3-0 home field win over the Chestnut Hill College Griffins, whose program just came into being last year.

The out-of-conference contest was also the season opener for CHC, which competes in the North East Athletic Conference, while Haverford plays in the Centennial Conference.

During the first period the Fords controlled the ball much of the time and generated the majority of the scoring opportunities. About 90 seconds into the match CHC keeper Steve Foster recorded the first of his 11 saves as he punched the ball away from the goalmouth after it was served towards the net by Haverford.

Just after that the Griffins went down the field and earned a corner, but they weren’t able to get off a shot after Raun Parker crossed the ball from the right side on the restart. Mike Devine unleashed a shot for Chestnut Hill with 17 minutes left in the half, but it carried well above the crossbar.

Earlier, Haverford’s Ben Bowens also had an attempt sail high, and later when he broke loose in the box for a shot the ball was knocked down by Foster. The CHC keeper stopped a number of other shots, and both Devine and Matt Guyon headed balls out of the box after dangerous serves by the hosts. Haverford put one into the net 17 minutes into the action, but was ruled offsides on the play, and a minute later Ben Schechtman of the Fords split two defenders at the 18 only to have the ball taken off his feet on a slide tackle by Jeff Lewin.

Finally, Eric Kissinger got Haverford on the board with 15:33 remaining in the first period. The scoring sequence began with a corner kick from the left, and the hosts fired repeatedly as Chestnut Hill was unable to clear the ball out of the box. Eventually it rolled out over the 18 and Kissinger teed up an outside shot into the upper right corner.

An insurance goal went into the book with 6:52 on the clock. Here, the Fords’ Taylor Sundby sent a through ball across the 18 on the right side and Bowens converted on a sliding shot from about ten yards out.

“They’ve got a big, wide field, and we’re not used to that,” pointed out Chestnut Hill head coach Shawn Ferris. “It took us a while to adjust, and you could see times when we left big gaps open on the field.”

Through the first 20 minutes of the second half the play was more balanced, with fewer scoring chances as the ball stayed between the 18’s much of the time. CHC had a corner kick cleared out by Haverford keeper Alec Aramanda about ten minutes in, and an outside shot by Greg Webb was wide of the mark.

As the period progressed Haverford’s Bowen threatened to add to his team’s lead several times, but it was Xander Subashi who rang up the Fords’ third goal with 27:54 remaining, finishing a play that featured a series of shots and rebounds in the CHC penalty zone. Chestnut Hill’s last bid to break the shutout came with half-a-minute to play, when a direct kick by Devine was tipped over the crossbar by Adam Care, who had replaced Aramanda in the Haverford goal with 12 minutes left in the game.