COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind an impressive offensive outing, the Ursinus College women's lacrosse team cruised to a 23-3 victory over Delaware Valley on Wednesday afternoon from Patterson Field.
 

With the win, the Bears improved to 3-4 on the season as they open Centennial Conference play on Saturday, meanwhile the Aggies of the MAC Freedom fall to 2-4 overall.

 
Senior Reilly Morgan and sophomore Maeve Leonzi led the offense each finishing with a season-high five goals a piece while combining for eight ground balls together. Sophomore Grace Lynch collected five points behind three goals and two assists, while first-year Meghan Vizian added two goals for the Bears.

 
Behind eight draw controls from the circle, senior Julie Cherneskie eclipsed the 100-career draw control mark and ranks seventh all-time in school history with 102. Cherneskie sits just seven draw controls away from moving into the top-five in school history.

 
The Bears jumped on the board first at the 11:43-mark as Leonzi scooped up a groundball and on the fast-break snuck her shot past the Aggies netminder to give Ursinus a 1-0 advantage. The Bears extended their advantage to two at the 5:25-mark as Lynch connected on a shot for her first goal of the contest. Delaware Valley answered ten seconds later with a goal off the ensuing draw control cutting their deficit to one. Each offense struggled over the next four minutes, until the Bears added two goals with under a minute remaining in the period. Vizian and junior Mia Gifford each recorded a goal over the final minute to extend the Bears lead to three at the end of the first quarter.
 
 
Ursinus quickly added a handful of insurance goals in the second period scoring three times within the first minute of play stretching their lead to six. Cherneskie added two draw controls over the stretch while Morgan, Leonzi, and first-year Ashley Noto each added goals. The offense continued to find open looks as Leonzi added back-to-back goals at the 11-minute mark and a goal from Gabrielle Liott gave the Bears a nine-goal lead with 10:53 remaining in the half. After a Delaware Valley goal, the Bears bounced back with a 5-0 run over the final eight minutes of the half to extend their lead to 13. Morgan recorded two more goals while junior Mary Michaud, Lynch, and Vizian each added another point.

 
The Aggies collected the opening score of the second half before Cherneskie answered with her first goal of the season to make the score 16-3. Cherneskie scooped up a groundball before creating a fast break and scoring off a left-handed shot at the 11:57-mark. Ursinus added three more goals over the next five minutes of action as Leonzi collected her fifth and Morgan scored on back-to-back opportunities to extend the Ursinus lead to 16 with 4:33 remaining in the quarter. The Bears kept the momentum as first-year Skyler Bogdan and Gabrielle Liott each netted a goal over the final three minutes of play to extend the Ursinus lead to 18. In the fourth quarter, the Bears defense would squander any offensive chance from the Aggies, outscoring Delaware Valley 2-0 in the final stanza. Lynch added her third goal while senior Emma Wood recorded her second goal of the season in route to the 23-3 victory.

 
The scoring outburst from the Bears marks as the most goals in a game since scoring 23 against Haverford in 2002. Ursinus held a 38-6 advantage in shots and an 18-27 edge in turnovers, while converting on 69% (9-of-13) of their clear attempts and holding the Aggies to a clear percentage of 30% (6-of-20).

 
Ursinus will return to action on Saturday as they travel to Chestertown, Maryland for a Centennial Conference matchup with Washington College at 1pm.