COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The No. 19 Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team opened the 2023 season by knocking off 13th-ranked Stevenson 14-11 on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field in Non-Conference action. The win was the first for Interim Head Coach Corey Shaffer.
 
 
The Bears open their 2023 campaign 1-0 for the fourth time in the last five seasons while avenging a 17-9 setback at Stevenson last season.
 
 
Ursinus forced turnovers on each of the Mustangs first two possessions of the contest and junior Brett Wilkinson got the Bears on the board at the 11:50-mark after senior Jake Ojert found him with space deep on the right side. Senior Tyler Falco quickly added to the Bears advantage just 1:06 with a rip from 15 yards out to make it 2-0. Stevenson countered with two of their own to tie up the contest at the 7:44-mark before the Bears struck back with a pair to go up 4-2 just 1:35 later. Falco initially gave the Bears the lead and senior Tyler Neal followed with his first of the game after working in front of the crease. Neal struck again to open the second quarter after Stevenson added a goal late in the first to make it a 5-3. The Mustangs rallied with back-to-back goals once again to tie the game at five until Neal added his third goal off a rebound in front from an initial shot by Wilkinson. Stevenson then took advantage of a locked in man-up situation to tie the game up at six before halftime.
 
 
Senior Jeremy Calabro opened the second half with his first two goals of the game to put the Bears up 8-6 at the 10:29-mark. However, the Mustangs slowly began to chip away and eventually took their first lead of the contest at 9-8 behind their third-straight goal with 4:05 left in the third quarter. Newman tied the game back up at nine after grabbing a perfect rebound bounce which came from a shot by Jake Ojert. Stevenson took the lead back at 10-9 with 12:45 left in regulation but Ursinus continued the back and forth theme when sophomore Christopher Pucciarelli snuck around his defender in front to tie the game at 10. Jake Ojert found Newman open in front to put the Bears in front at 11-10 with 7:54 left in the fourth quarter before Stevenson tied the game for the seventh time in the contest just 1:12 later. Falco then rifled a dart at the 5:54-mark to put the Bears once again in front at 12-11 off a man-up opportunity which turned out to be the eventual game-winner. Newman extended the Bears lead with his third goal of the game at the 4:41-mark and Calabro capped the win off just 1:09 later with his third tally.
 
 
The Bears held a 47-34 shot advantage for the game and a 27-23 edge in shots on goal. Ursinus also held a 36-32 advantage in ground balls and won 17 of the 28 faceoffs. Ursinus cleared 15 of their 17 clears while forcing the Mustangs to go 17 of 25 on clears.  Neal paced the Bears with five points behind three goals and two assists and picked up a pair of ground balls. Calabro, Newman, and Falco all tallied three goals while Jake Ojert dished out three assists. Sophomore Dominic Nottoli dominated in the faceoff circle by winning 16-of-27 faceoffs and grabbing six ground balls. Junior Jonathan Singer earned the win for the Bears after making 13 stops in net while Stevenson goalie Justin Scorese suffered the loss after making 12 saves in the full time. Cam Leydig led the Mustangs with a game-high six goals.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, February 22nd as they will travel to face No. 5 York at 7:00 p.m.