GETTYSBURG, Pa. – After sitting out most of the regular season with an injury, senior Tommy Heller (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) made a triumphant return to the lacrosse field by tossing in five goals to lead No. 8 Gettysburg College past No. 15 Dickinson College in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Championship Wednesday at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
 
Gettysburg (14-3) will face No. 14 Ursinus College (12-3) in Saturday's championship game at Musselman Stadium beginning at 1 p.m. The Bears took down top-seed Franklin & Marshall College 12-11 in Wednesday's other semifinal, giving the Bullets hosting rights as the highest remaining seed.  
 
Heller had played just a few minutes in Gettysburg's previous two games after missing the first two months of the season. The senior attackman made is presence felt immediately with the first goal Wednesday and he poured in back-to-back goals that put the Bullets ahead for good late in the third quarter of play. He finished the day with five goals on nine shots with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Junior Michael McCormick (Lorton, Va./Paul VI Catholic) poured in four goals and senior Jack Harvey (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) posted a pair of goals. Sophomore Jack Fletcher (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day School) posted a goal, three assists, three ground balls, and two caused turnovers. Senior Andrew Garstka (Springfield, Va./Paul VI Catholic) added a goal and two assists and became the seventh player currently on the team to reach 100 career points.
 
Defensively, Gettysburg forced Dickinson (11-6) into 20 turnovers, including nine on clear attempts. Junior defenseman Mitch Wykoff (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) logged two caused turnovers, six ground balls, and scored his eighth goal of the campaign. Junior Christian Atalese (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) picked up four ground balls and two caused turnovers and sophomore Andrew Horn (Bronxville, N.Y./Avon Old Farms) scooped five ground balls. Freshman goalie Scott MacMillan (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) finished with eight saves.
 
Jack O'Connell led Dickinson with six goals and Brodie Phillips posted three goals and two assists. Goalie Cole Pellicano kept Gettysburg in check with 20 saves.
 
Meeting in the conference playoffs for the third consecutive season, the energy was high as the teams traded blows back-and-forth in the opening period. Heller kicked things off with his first goal of the season at 13:31 and O'Connell answer two minutes later to tie the game.
 
Tied 3-3 entering the final minute of the first period, Harvey put the Bullets in front with a rip into the net, igniting a 4-0 run for the hosts. McCormick added the first two tallies of the second quarter and Heller posted his second goal to lift Gettysburg in front 7-3.
 
Pellicano recorded five saves over the next five minutes and the Red Devils took advantage of the defensive stops to get back in the game. A goal by Nick Goles and back-to-back tallies by O'Connell over 34 seconds sliced the deficit to 7-6 by halftime.
 
O'Connell completed a personal 3-0 run at the start of the third period to tie the game. The Bullets appeared to reestablish control minutes later, taking advantage of a penalty to score a man-up goal by freshman Elon Tuckman (Princeton, N.J./Princeton Day School) and getting a goal from Garstka 21 seconds later to pull ahead 9-7.
 
The battle waged on in the third period as the Red Devils stormed back with a 3-0 run to take a 10-9 lead with 4:01 to play. Enter Heller, who caught a pass from Garstka for the game-tying goal and came right back two minutes later with a diving shot in front of the cage to put the Bullets up for good with 1:17 remaining period.
 
Dickinson won the ensuing face-off, but turned the ball over in transition with Fletcher scooping it up and rifling a 10-yard shot past Pellicano. After claiming the ground ball on the next face-off, Wykoff broke loose for another tally to push the lead to 13-10.
 
Heller tossed in his fifth and final goal off a feed from Horn in transition to push the advantage to 14-10 early in the fourth quarter.
 
Dickinson was able to net three of the final four goals, but MacMillan came up with two stops in the final 1:57 to close out the victory.
 
Gettysburg led in shots (58-37) and ground balls (36-29), while Dickinson held a 16-14 lead in face-off wins.

The Bullets are vying for their 11th CC playoff crown and their 16th overall conference crown. Ursinus has never won the Centennial title. The two programs squared off in the finals in both 2015 and 2016 with Gettysburg coming out with victories each time.