Men’s Lacrosse Routes Messiah, 19-6, in Season Opener
Dean Granoff scored three goals on Wednesday in the season opener.
2/27/08 - Haverford scored eight unanswered goals en route to their first win of the season.
RADNOR, Pa. – The No.19 ranked Haverford College men’s lacrosse team opened its 2008 season with a 19-6 victory over Messiah College Wednesday afternoon at Radnor High School. Brian Fleishhacker led the Fords with five goals, while Dean Granoff and Max Hjelm scored three goals a piece. Nick Ricucci was Messiah’s leading scorer with five goals.
Hjelm got Haverford (1-0) on the board first, scoring from the left wing on an assist from Mike Distler just over two and half minutes into the contest. The Fords found themselves up 3-0 less than five minutes into the first period on goals by Hjelm and Myles Monaghan. Messiah (0-1) took advantage of a Fords penalty for their first goal at the 6:37 mark by Ricucci. Haverford scored three more times before the period ended to take a 6-1 advantage.
HC scored eight unanswered goals before Messiah scored again with 6:57 remaining in the second to make the score 11-2. Messiah went on a run, scoring once more before intermission, and then the first three goals of the third period to cut the Fords lead to 11-6. Haverford was held scoreless in the third and only had seven shots.
The Fords responded in the final period by shutting out Messiah and scoring eight goals. Granoff scored from the top of the circle 1:45 into the fourth. Fleishhacker scored three times in the final period and Granoff added one more.
Jake Mendlinger logged all 60 minutes in goal and had eight saves.
Haverford remains home for its next three games. This Saturday the Fords host Fairleigh-Dickinson Florham at the Haverford School at 3 p.m.