COLLEGEVILLE, PA- Ursinus College Men's Soccer (6-5) played a close fought match that ended in a draw against the Scranton Royals (4-3-3) on Tuesday night at Patterson Field. The Bears got off to a rough start in the 8th minute when Scranton's Adam Havens netted his second marker of the season on a shot that buried itself into the lower right-hand corner of the net.
The Bears tried to recover, but despite having multiple corner kick opportunities in the first stanza, they failed to tally any shots on goal. Scranton was able to tally 2 shots on goal before the break.
The Bears' best opportunities in the half both came with less than 10 minutes remaining. Junior Marco Grenda blasted a shot at an awkward angle that missed high and Senior Aidan O'Malley headed a beautiful shot that just missed over the crossbar. At the half, the score remained 1-0.
The second half opened with a series of strong offensive probes from Ursinus. Notably, in the 57th minute, Senior Aiden Cooper blasted a long-range attempt that was saved by Scranton keeper Jake Hodlofski.
Ursinus was finally able to knot things up 1-1 in the 69th minute when Freshman Jack Schmidt crossed a great ball to fellow Freshman Luke Luehrs for a header goal that found its way over Hodlofski's head. The duo each notched collegiate firsts on the play.
The match would need overtime to decide a winner as the score remained 1-1 at the end of regulation. Aiden Cooper was mere inches away from a game winning header in the first overtime period, but he missed just high and wide on the attempt.
In the second overtime, the Royals had a golden opportunity on a beautiful knuckling shot from Andrew Luchansky that was met with an even better save from Ursinus keeper Tyler Lewin. Lewin tallied 2 saves on the night.
Although the Bears had a few opportunities to score in the final overtime, the Scranton defense was able to block multiple shots from Tommy Mollis. Marco Grenda had a last-ditch effort with just seconds remaining, but his shot was punched out by Hodlofski. The match ended in a hard-fought 1-1 draw. Ursinus will see action at home on Saturday against conference rival #5 ranked Johns Hopkins.