HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's lacrosse team held the high-powered offense of seventh-ranked Gettysburg College in check for more than a dozen minutes of initial game action but the Bullets would finally solve the Fords' defensive pressure in a 12-3 Centennial Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Swan Field.

Gettysburg (11-2, 5-0 CC) scored quickly, just 1:12 after the opening draw control, but Haverford (10-2, 3-2 CC) would pull even on an Alexa Pesce goal 94 seconds later.

Neither team would score over the next nine minutes but Gettysburg broke the game open with eight consecutive goals to forge a 9-1 halftime lead which grew to 10-1 on Hollis Stahl's goal early in the second half. Stahl kicked off the nine-goal stretch and added two more in between her bookend scores.

Nora Proops finally broke the drought for the Fords with a free-position goal at the 22:27 mark of the second. Kayleigh Herrick-Reynolds would score the game's final goal with 1:40 to play, also on a free-position shot. For the game Haverford was 2-for-6 in free-position opportunities while holding Gettysburg scoreless in its four chances.

Haverford was successful in 15-of-17 clearing attempts in the game but simply couldn't generate enough shots and scoring opportunities in the Gettysburg defensive zone.

The Fords also went ground ball for ground ball with the highly-ranked Bullets allowing the visitors to hold just a 22-19 edge over the two halves of action.

Though the loss drops Haverford's conference mark to 3-2, Saturday losses by both Dickinson and Ursinus leaves the Fords tied with those same two teams (though Ursinus owns the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Fords) for third place in the league's standings.

The Fords will play visiting Bryn Mawr (0-10, 0-5 CC) in their next conference outing, a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at Swan Field.