COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The No. 20 Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team turned in a complete showing against Arcadia today as they defeated the Knights 17-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Patterson Field.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 3-1 overall as they earn their second-straight win. Meanwhile, the Knights of the MAC Freedom dropped to 0-2 overall.
 
 
After some strong defense from both sides to start, the Bears got on the board at the 9:54 mark when sophomore Christopher Pucciarelli found senior Erik Ojert swiftly cutting to the front of the crease from the right side for the score. Ursinus then took advantage of a Knights turnover and freshman Harry Sweitzer took a deep rip for his first goal of the game and extended the lead to 2-0 at the 6:58-mark. Junior Brett Wilkinson kept the Bears opening run going after the Bears were originally set in the attacking end by a man-up opportunity to make it a 3-0 Ursinus lead just over two minute later. Senior Tyler Falco notched his first of the game at the 3:05-mark to make it 4-0 before the Knights finally ended in the final minute to send the score to 4-1 into the second quarter. Much like the first quarter, the opening four minutes of the second quarter went scoreless until senior Tyler Neal created space to tally his first of the game to make it a 5-1 game. Neal then fed classmate Jeremy Calabro in front to extend the Bears lead to 6-1 at the 8:47-mark. Falco made it a 7-1 game with 5:53 until halftime after collecting a saved shot and the Knights ended the run three minutes later after taking advantage of a Bears turnover. Ursinus stopped any potential Arcadia momentum by notching two goals in the final minute to go up 9-2 at halftime. Senior Jake Ojert cashed in a on quick clear before Pucciarelli scooped a loose ground ball from a wide shot and scored.
 
 
Ursinus picked up right where they left off in the first half as they ultimately put the game away by shutting out the Knights in the third quarter while scoring three goals of their own. Neal extended the advantage to 10-2 in the opening minute of the third quarter before Erik Ojert added one of his own at the 11:36-mark to make it 11-2. Wilkinson then scored the final goal of the third quarter for the Bears at the 6:17-mark. The Bears cashed in twice on a two-minute non-releasable penalty to further extend their lead to 14-2 early in the fourth quarter as Jake Ojert and Wilkinson notched tallies. Ursinus closed out the game with three Bears all scoring their first collegiate goals in Barrett Denlinger, Jason Werrick, and Nick Fareno.
 
 
The Bears held for a 38-35 edge in total shots for the contests and a 26-19 advantage in shots on goal. Ursinus also held a 39-28 advantage in ground balls while the Knights held a slight edge in faceoff wins at 13-12 with six coming in the fourth quarter. Bears junior goalkeeper Jonathan Singer earned the win after making 12 saves in 48:53 of action while allowing just two goals and senior Quinn Watson closed the game out by making three saves in the final 11:03. Knights goalkeeper Nathaniel Hudgins suffered the loss after making nine saves in the full game action. 11 different Bears scored a goal on the day with Wilkinson leading the Bears in scores with three. Neal recorded a game-high four points on two goals and two assists while both Jake and Erik Ojert along with Calabro plus Pucciarelli registered three points apiece.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, March 4th as they will host DeSales at 4:00 p.m. to conclude their homestand.