LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team dropped a back and forth 18-16 battle to Franklin & Marshall on the road Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
 
The Diplomats opened the game with two goals in the first 1:10 of the contest and senior Tyler Falco got the Bears on the board at the 13:15-mark to make it 2-1. After a quiet period following the action-packed start, Falco knotted the game at two at the 6:16-mark following a Diplomats turnover. F&M responded with a pair of goals to go up 4-2, but senior Chase Rondeau seemed to give the Bears some momentum heading into the second quarter as he beat the horn with a long shot that bounced off the Diplomat goalies stick and in the net. However, the momentum did not last as the Diplomats scored two goals in a span of nine seconds to go up 7-3 at the 11:09-mark. Senior Erik Ojert and freshman Harry Sweitzer responded with back-to-back goals for the Bears to make it 7-5 to only be answered by a pair of Diplomat goals. Senior Tyler Neal scored his first goal of the game at the 2:41-mark of the second quarter which cut the F&M lead down to 9-6 at halftime.
 
 
 
Neal opened the second half with his second-straight goal to make it 9-7, but once again the Diplomats had an answer with two goals to put them back up four at 11-7 with 12:52 left in the third quarter Ursinus rallied with three-straight goals to make it an 11-10 game at the 7:44-mark that started with senior Jake Ojert starting the run with his first of the game. Neal took advantage of a Diplomats turnover for the second goal of the run and found Erik Ojert a minute later to cap off the run. The teams then each traded two goals apiece that left the score with F&M in front at 13-12 as senior Jeremy Calabro scored both for the Bears. However, the Diplomats ran off three-straight goals within a span of 47 seconds late in the third quarter to go up 16-12. Falco ended the Diplomats burst of goals with 32 seconds left in the third quarter and fed Neal early in the fourth quarter on a man-up situation to slice the Diplomats advantage down to 16-14. Following a Diplomats goal at the 11:52-mark, the Bears cut the deficit down to 17-16 at the 6:24-mark with goals from Calabro and freshman Lars Homan. F&M scored once more on a man-up situation at the 5:12-mark and held the Bears to one shot in the final 3:50 to preserve the win.
 
 
The Bears held a 43-41 shot advantage for the game and a 31-28 edge in shots on goal. The Diplomats held a slight 42-37 edge in ground balls and held a convincing 23-13 edge in the faceoff X. Bears junior goalkeeper Jonathan Singer suffered the loss after making one save in the first 30 minutes of the game. Senior Quinn Watson played a career-high 30 minutes in the second half and made a career-high nine saves. F&M Split goalkeepers as well with starter Sage Garito earning the win after making nine saves in the first 30 minutes. Neal led the Bears with six points behind four goals and two assists and Falco recorded four points off three goals and one assist. Calabro added three goals while Sweitzer registered a season-high three points off one goal and two assists..
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Wednesday, April 19th as they will host No. 16 Swarthmore at 4:00 p.m.