Fall NHSLS Takeaways and Spring Lookahead: Haverford School (Pa.)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Fords look dramatically different from a year ago after graduating an 18-man senior class (including 10 Division I recruits) from a squad that went 20-2 and won the Inter-Ac championship. Entering the 2025 season, Haverford will have to replace a trio of experienced attackmen, a ton of depth and talent at midfield, a five-star face-off recruit, and a starting goalie who had a terrific breakthrough senior season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With that amount of roster turnover combined with Sunday's absences of a few top returners, the Fords experienced some growing pains on the offensive side of the ball last weekend. Even with more than three months to go before the season opener, Haverford's inability to produce goals —just seven in Sunday's losses to Calvert Hall and Spalding — will be a storyline to watch going forward, though there's no sense in sounding the panic button in November. <br><br>The Fords will look to senior [player_tooltip player_id='14564' first='Reece' last='Childs'] to help carry the load on the offensive end, it's just a matter of if that will be at attack or midfield, his natural position. Having missed the first half of last season while recovering from injury, the Penn commit found a role on the second line upon his return. Known for his athleticism, he looked incredibly explosive and assertive last weekend at NHSLS despite some inconsistencies shooting the ball. He displayed great shake while creating offense from various spots and attacked his matchup from behind the cage and the wings in addition to up top. <br><br>Fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id='24572' first='Evan' last='Large'], a Rutgers-bound lefty, is by far the most experienced returner on Haverford's offense. As a sophomore, Large stepped in at attack to post 16 goals and 12 assists, then bumped up to the midfield as a junior and finished with 23 goals. Making a number of noteworthy plays in the on Sunday, Large provides a heady veteran presence after adjusting admirably to the midfield position and taking advantage of shortstick matchups a year ago.<br><br>The Fords were without senior face-off specialist [player_tooltip player_id='14541' first='Griff' last='Meyer'] for much of the day due to sickness, so that changed the equation a bit, as the offense didn't have as many opportunities as they're used to seeing. Meyer has taken a substantial amount of reps over the past few springs and gave certain matchups a ton of trouble while spelling McCarthy, who left Haverford and shipped off to Duke as arguably the most accomplished face-off recruit in program history.<br><br>In addition to Meyer's absence, lefty sophomore attackman [player_tooltip player_id='23606' first='Conor' last='Morsell'], suffered a lower body injury against Spalding and was sidelined for the rest of the day. Morsell, a smooth and dynamic '27 bound to be one of the top-ranked recruits in the class, racked up 29 goals and 23 assists during a sensational freshman campaign. The ball will be in his stick a whole lot more, so it's inevitable that he'll see increased attention from defenses this spring. <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGmg4ewN4Fo","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGmg4ewN4Fo </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the final time slot of the event, Haverford beat Gonzaga's underclassmen 10-3 and played a lot of guys, with senior and Trinity recruit [player_tooltip player_id='16273' first='Reed' last='Campbell'] contributing a pair of first half goals. Among eight sophomores on the varsity roster last spring, midfielder [player_tooltip player_id='123281' first='Jack' last='Rischitelli'] made a precise cut and finished an assist from Large earlier in the day against Spalding and did a lot of things well overall, including in the middle of the field. [player_tooltip player_id='123176' first='Braiden' last='Delacy'], <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2024/12/fall-nhsls-uncommitted-26-attackmen-and-middies/">who was highlighted in Tuesday's piece on uncommitted offensive recruits in the '26 class</a>, looks to have taken a step forward and will factor in more as a junior. <br><br>More so than in recent memory, the Fords' obvious strength is on defense, where a trio of All-Conference picks bound for the ACC — Duke commit [player_tooltip player_id='14520' first='Gavin' last='Cooper'], Notre Dame commit [player_tooltip player_id='21833' first='Kellen' last='Gardner'], and Virginia commit [player_tooltip player_id='123253' first='Charlie' last='Halpert'] — are all back in the fold for one last year together. Despite coming off of a long and grueling football season, their chemistry together and complementary skill sets were on full display. <br><br>Cooper is an all-around playmaker who is the most versatile in terms of his ability to cover up top and down low, while Gardner is a long and physical lefty who has grown tremendously as a 1-on-1 cover man. Halpert has excellent intangibles that make him an ideal third guy down low. He's a great off-ball defender and communicator, proving to be quite an asset on Haverford's man-down unit. Showing flashes on Sunday, senior [player_tooltip player_id='20994' first='Cameron' last='Esposito'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='45362' first='Anthony' last='Costa'] are back at LSM. Their play will be critical given the inexperience at the SSDM position and in goal, where 6'4 sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='120638' first='Jackson' last='Gillis'] and 5'9 Williams-bound senior Collin Decker split time, offering differing styles between the pipes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->