COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College field hockey team likely felt as if it should have been more than one goal ahead at halftime of Saturday's non-conference clash with Catholic. Once the second stanza began, the Bears got their just dues.

Mary Lauren Franz scored two goals during a four-goal third-quarter explosion for No. 15 Ursinus (3-1), which capped an unbeaten three-game home stand with another impressive offensive display. Franz and fellow first-year Amanda Groeling deposited goals just 17 seconds apart to break open a tight game, and Ellie Bruggeman joined them in the scoring column about two minutes later to polish off a blistering sequence.

The Bears piled up the shots and corners from the outset, putting the Catholic cage under relentless pressure. The dam finally broke early in the second quarter, when Devon Carroll sent a pin-point pass to the far post for a tap-in goal by her fellow fifth-year Gabriela Howell and a well-deserved lead. Just seconds before, Carroll rang the post with a laser shot from just inside the circle.

Despite a 16-2 advantage in shots and a dozen penalty corner opportunities, Ursinus settled for the one-goal spread at the break.

Franz, who has scored in all four games of her debut season, gave the Bears a 2-0 lead with a stunning individual effort, taking a pass from Howell and splitting a pair of defenders before somehow sending a touch-angle shot into the corner of the cage. Only 17 seconds ticked off the clock before Groeling tacked on another, putting in her own rebound following a corner insert.

Bruggeman re-directed Laura Rothschild's effort into the back of the cage for a 4-0 lead before the Cardinals (1-3) got on the board on a scramble in front. Ursinus capped off the scoring with 1:32 to go in the third, when Carroll's hard pass found Franz for a tip at the right post.

Franz, who made her first career start on Saturday, racked up four goals and five assists in the last three games on Snell Field.

Jordan Ulsh played her best game to date, totaling seven saves.

The Bears begin a stretch of four consecutive top-20 battles with No. 13 Lynchburg, with the contest set for next Friday on the campus of Liberty University.

Notes

• Ursinus posted a 28-8 advantage in shots and took 19 corners to three for the Cardinals
• Carroll registered the first multi-assist game of her career
• The Bears' top three point-scorers – Franz (15), Bruggeman (8), and Groeling (8) – are all first-year players