COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team was unable to overcome a slow start against No. 18 Gettysburg on Saturday afternoon as they dropped a 16-12 decision to the Bullets in their regular season Centennial Conference finale at Patterson Field.
The Bears conclude the regular season with an 8-7 overall record and a 5-3 mark in Centennial Conference action. Ursinus earned the number four seed in next week's Centennial Conference Tournament and will face Dickinson, who earned the one seed by virtue of their perfect regular season and Centennial record. Meanwhile, the Bullets improved to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play and locked up the second seed.
Prior to today's contest, the Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team honored their 12 members of the 2022 senior class for senior day ceremonies.
Gettysburg stormed ahead of the Bears in the first quarter by scoring the first five goals of the contest by the 3:23-mark. Sophomore Eddie Newman ended the Bullets game-opening run with a goal that was scored from the ground at the 1:55-mark. Senior Tommy Reinhart then snuck a ball on the far-left side of the net with four seconds left to give the Bears some momentum headed into the second quarter by making it 5-2. The Bullets cleaned up a rebound in front of the crease to go back up four goals at 6-2 at the 12:46-mark. Junior Tyler Neal ripped a shot past the Bullets goalkeeper exactly three minutes later to cut the deficit down to 6-3 but was answered less than a minute later by a Gettysburg goal. Senior Stephen Schoenborn kept the back-and-forth action going in the second quarter with his first goal of the game at the 6:59-mark. However, the Bullets closed the half with four unanswered goals to take an 11-4 lead into the halftime.
Neal found Reinhart at the 12:55-mark of the third to end the Bullets run from the end of the first half, making it an 11-5 game. Gettysburg once again had an answer to a Bears goal by scoring two within a span of 44 seconds to take their largest lead of the game at 13-5 at the 9:30-mark. Neal popped his second goal at the 7:23-mark to bring the score to 13-6 before being answered yet again by another Bullets goal just 1:23 later. Junior Tyler Falco netted a pair in the final minute of the third quarter that sliced the Bullets advantage down to 14-8. Junior Jeremy Calabro kept the Bears run going by scoring at the 10:01-mark of the fourth quarter to make it a 14-9 game. However, turnovers plagued Ursinus in the fourth and the Bullets finally made the Bears pay at the 2:35-mark, going up 15-9. Ursinus began to make a potential miraculous rally late in the fourth as they scored three goals in a span of 36 seconds which brought the deficit down to 15-12. Freshman Riley Yee won his fourth-straight faceoff to seemingly keep the Bears rally rolling, but had the ball smacked out of his hands to give possession back to the Bullets. Gettysburg slammed the door by scoring with the Bears on the 10-man ride at the 29-second mark.
Gettysburg held a sizable 59-32 advantage in shots and a 32-22 edge in shots on goal. The Bullets held a 47-34 advantage in ground balls while the Bears posted a 20-12 edge in faceoff wins. Sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Singer suffered the loss after making 16 saves in the full 60 minutes. Scott MacMillan earned the win behind making 10 saves in the full amount of time. Neal led the Bears with four points off three goals and one assist while Falco, Reinhart, and Calabro each posted two goals. Quinton Mather scored a game-high five goals for the Bullets and George Raymond registered six points behind three goals and three assists.
The Bears will head to Dickinson on Wednesday, May 4th for the semifinal round of the Centennial Conference Tournament. The time for the contest will be announced on Monday, May 2nd.