COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team nearly pulled a big upset on Senior Day, controlling a 7-3 lead on No. 22 Dickinson in the second half of Saturday's Senior Day special before the Red Devils pulled away with a run of seven straight goals and hung on for a 12-11 victory in a windy thriller on Patterson Field.
Dickinson (11-5, 6-3) held a 2-1 lead after 10 minutes of play, but the home-standing Bears dominated the proceedings for the rest of the first half. Senior Emily DiGiorgio beat her defender and roofed a shot into the back of the cage to make it 2-2 before fellow senior Kaci McNeave found cutting sophomore Brittney Bedrossian in front for a quick turn-and-shoot and a 3-2 lead at the 16:26 mark.
DiGiorgio fired in a top-shelf rocket on a free-position attempt, and McNeave got some Senior Day luck when her apparent pass trickled beyond the line and in for a surprise goal. McNeave and Bedrossian concocted a similar connection to increase the lead with 9:48 to go as the senior hit the sophomore open in front of the cage to make it 6-2 and chase the Red Devils' starting goalie.
After taking a 6-3 lead into the break, Ursinus (3-13, 2-7) got right back to work in the second stanza as senior Courtney Cortese controlled the opening draw and streaked down the middle of the field before drawing a foul and converting the eight-meter effort to make it 7-3 a mere 11 seconds into the period.
Dickinson turned the tables from there, rattling off seven goals in a row to take command. Erika Bloes ignited the streak with a free-position goal and capped it with three in a row in a span of just over three minutes, handing the visitors a 10-7 edge with 13:23 to go.
The two sides traded a goal apiece before the Bears made their last stand. Sophomore Grace Langen tickled the twine and DiGiorgio followed with a laser of a shot that kicked off the goalie's stick and into the back of the cage, slicing the margin to 11-10 at the 4:57 mark.
The Red Devils snatched a two-goal lead back on Greta Holt's marker with 1:58 left, but Ursinus would not go away and cut it to one again on McNeave's unassisted tally with exactly a minute to play. Dickinson, however, won the ensuing draw and ran off the final 60 seconds to close it out.
Seniors accounted for all but one of the Bears' goals on the day. DiGiorgio had three goals and an assist, McNeave paired two goals with two assists, Cortese scored twice, and senior Bridget Sherry netted one of her own. McNeave (65 goals, 51 assists) and DiGiorgio (91 goals, 17 assists) each ended their careers with over 100 points.
Sherry added three ground balls, two caused turnovers, and two draw controls to her typically balanced stat sheet. She finished her career with triple digits in draws (123) and ground balls (110). Classmate Emily Blaszkow registered the 65th and 66th caused turnovers of her Ursinus tenure.
Cortese recorded 14 goals and five assists in an inspirational season, coming back from back-to-back season-ending injuries to start 14 games and regain her spot as one of the team's primary contributors.
Senior Kaitlyn France came up with nine saves to run her career tally to 352.