COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Mary Lauren Franz scored a goal and assisted on three others as the No. 15 Ursinus College field hockey team used a third-quarter explosion to surge past Wilkes, 8-0, in non-conference action on Wednesday night.

After moving the start time up 30 minutes in an effort to beat the impending storms, the Bears (2-1) took a little time to get their attack going. In fact, it was Wilkes that almost broke the ice first, with Erin McIlhenny needing to make a defensive save on a cage-bound effort to keep the Colonels off the board.

Almost 10 minutes in, Ursinus dented the scoreboard as Franz sent a pass into the center, where Ellie Bruggeman redirected it into the back of the cage for the first of her two goals.

The score line remained for another 10 minutes until Jordan Moore tapped in a Jamie Mayer cross at the far post. With just under two minutes until half, Franz guided a perfect pass to Gabriela Howell at the left post for a quick shot and a 3-0 lead at the break.

Ursinus cranked up the offensive pressure after halftime, which gave way to a third-quarter deluge as the hosts piled up five goals in less than seven minutes. Franz got a lefty shot to trickle over the goal line, and Laura Rothschild blasted a hard shot under the keeper to make it 5-0.

Sarah Symes grabbed her first career goal on another perfect centering pass by Franz. The Bears then capped the scoring with two goals in 29 seconds, the first a Howell tap-in off a rebound and the last on a cross from Mayer to Bruggeman.

Both Ursinus goalies finished with two saves, with Makayla Baessler recording hers in quick succession after coming on to begin the fourth.

The Bears wrap up a three-game home stand against Catholic on Saturday.

Notes

• The Bears outshot Wilkes, 37-8, and had 11 corners to five for the Colonels
• After putting up a goal and two assists against William Smith, Franz did herself better with a goal and three helpers on Wednesday. She leads the Bears with 11 points (3G/5A) through three games.
• Mayer notched the first multi-assist performance of her career
• Howell scored multiple goals in a game for the first time in her career
• McIlhenny's defensive save was the eighth of her career; she had seven in 2019