HAVERFORD, Pa. – A never-before match-up awaits the Haverford College women's soccer team Saturday afternoon as the 25th-ranked Fords take on visiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Walton Field in an opening round game of the NCAA 2012 Division III women's soccer championship.
Haverford (14-3-2), an automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament, and the Engineers (13-3-2), an at-large qualifier, have never faced off against each other on the women's soccer pitch but this season the institutions have at least shared a couple of common opponents.
The Fords traveled into New England early in the season to participate in the Wellesley (College) Invitational where they faced the host school as well as Babson College. Haverford dropped a 1-0 decision to Wellesley on the opening day of the Invitational but rebounded to steal a 2-1, double-overtime victory from Babson on day two.
A member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference with Wellesley and Babson, MIT squared off against the two during the regular season winning an early-season contest, 3-2, against visiting Babson then went to double-overtime against Wellesley to claim a 2-1 home victory in early October.
Saturday's 1:30 p.m. NCAA tilt looks, on paper, like a contest between each school's leading scorers and goalkeepers.
Haverford, reaching the NCAA playoffs after winning the Centennial Conference tournament, is led by junior forward Meg Boyer who posted a team-leading 11 goals including five game-winners this season. Her penchant for delivering in the clutch was not just tops in the league.
Boyer's most recent game-winner was the one that delivered the Centennial title as she chipped a 30-yard shot into the upper, right corner of the Johns Hopkins University goal in the 79th minute of the conference tournament's championship game against the then-24th-ranked Blue Jays. Timely goals such as that one convinced the league's coaches to vote the first-team all-Centennial selection as one of only two unanimous selections to the all-conference team.
The MIT attack is led by senior forward Emily Kuo (pictured, on right) who was recently voted the NEWMAC athlete of the year. Kuo, a four-time first-team all-conference honoree, registered a team-high 12 goals on the year to triple the output of her nearest teammate.
The goalies and the defenders in front of them will play a big part Saturday as each team tries to advance into Sunday's round-two game at Walton.
Haverford's Robin Chernow started all 19 games this season and enters the national tournament with a shining 0.87 goals against average and .813 save percentage. Chernow surrendered just three goals while recording 22 saves and four shutouts over the team's past six games when the Fords posted a 5-0-1 mark. For the year the sophomore netminder came up with 74 saves and eight shutouts while giving up only 17 goals.
Senior Meghan Wright, from Devon, Pa., played every minute between the pipes for MIT this season earning second-team all-NEWMAC honors. Among the team records she holds are fewest goals allowed in a season and career, shutouts in a season and career, and saves for a career. In 2012 Wright allowed 13 goals for a 0.69 goals against average, recorded 60 saves and posted an .822 save percentage.
Both keepers have an all-conference performer on the last line of defense in front of the goal box. Haverford's Elizabeth Newman earned second-team all-Centennial honors and MIT's Andrea Park was named a first-team all-conference player.
The Haverford attack, despite Boyer's scoring prowess, grew more balanced throughout the season as sophomore Phoebe Miller, with four goals and an assist over the final six games, grew to become part of an offense that included first-team all-conference midfielder Allie Chen. A senior, Chen notched five goals -- four of which were game-winners -- and added a team-high six assists for a single-season career-best 16 points. Miller's 14 points, a single-season career high, was third-most for the Fords.
Samantha Fleischmann, voted second-team all-NEWMAC, is one of the catalysts that help Kuo as Fleischmann, a defender, posted a team-best six assists to go along with three goals including two game-winners. Jennifer Ibanez and Ambika Krishnamachar each scored four goals during the year to add to Kuo's output.
Should the game go into overtime, both teams have experience playing past the 90-minute mark. The Fords were 3-0-2 in five double-overtime contests this season, while MIT posted a 1-1-2 mark when forced to play past regulation.
As for intangibles, Haverford played to a perfect 9-0 mark at Walton Field this season, matching the unblemished home record of the 2005 Fords team which…qualified for the NCAA tournament and advanced into the second round via, what else?, winning a penalty-kick shootout after playing to a 1-1 double-overtime tie against visiting Arcadia University.
The winner of Saturday's Fords/Engineers match-up will play Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of the first of Saturday's round-one games at Walton between No. 23 College of New Jersey and The City College of New York.
