Haverford School Finishes As National Champions

They all knew what they had. It was something special, very special. Though they never came right out and said anything overt to one another about it. Nor did they ever doubt their collective promise to each other—to go wire-to-wire and finish a season for the ages that everyone who ever followed high school sports in this area will long remember.

The Fords did what they set out to do. They finished 23-0 overall this season, taking on the best teams not only from this area but the top teams from throughout the country. Their winning was unprecedented and good enough to land the Fords as the No. 1 boys’ lacrosse team in the nation, thanks to an exclamation point 5-4 victory over Malvern Prep in the Inter-Academic League Invitational to close out the season last week.

That’s right, the Fords are national champions.

The Malvern victory placed the Fords on that rare pantheon of high school sports teams, placing them among the best teams in not just Haverford, but the Delaware Valley.

“We were like brothers, like a family this year,” said Fords’ senior captain Carl Walrath, who’s headed to Virginia on a lacrosse scholarship and who supplied the tying and game-winning goals against Malvern Prep that made the Fords’ amazing season possible. “We never said anything to one another, we just kept things simple as the season went on, keeping it one game at a time, and we set out to win. Sure, you might look ahead, but I think what kept us together this whole season was staying focused and just working together on staying undefeated. We could all count on each other.”

And with a star-studded team that featured 18 players heading to Division I colleges for lacrosse, players like Walrath were forced to make sacrifices all season long.

“I think that’s what made this team so special,” Fords’ coach John Nostrant said. “Everyone sacrificed a little bit of their games to make the team better. We have guys on this team that if they were on any other team could have dropped some amazing numbers. But everyone gave up a part of what they did to make things work for the team, to make the team as a whole better.

“Their toughness, mentally and physically, and trust in one another, set this team apart. We had players like Walrath, Goran Murray, Conor Kelly, Hup Hupfeldt, Matt Walters, Brendan McGrath, and I can go on and on. It was senior leadership, and a team that was a tremendously special group, a team I’ll always remember.”

When Murray, the Fords’ long-stick senior defenseman going to Maryland, walked off the field one last time after the Malvern victory, he looked back on the field and took a look at his passing teammates, as if trying to absorb it all one last time.

“Most of these guys, almost this whole team, has known each other since middle school,” Murray said. “When we were down against Malvern, we all said to each other, ‘Guys, how do you want to be remembered?’”

They’ll be remembered as winners. And as one of the greatest teams that ever played high school sports in this area.