COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – A second half comeback from the Ursinus College women's lacrosse team sparked a 17-15 victory over Dickinson College to secure a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament.
 

This marks the first time since 2012 that the Bears have qualified for the tournament as they await their matchup in the first round. With the victory, the Bears improved to 9-8 overall and 5-4 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Red Devils fall to 9-7 on the season and 3-6 in conference play. This marks the Bears first win over Dickinson College since an 8-5 victory in the 2015 season.

 
The Bears trailed by five with two minutes to go in the opening period, before a string of four consecutive goals made the deficit one at the end of the first period. After a 3-0 from the Red Devils to open the second half, the Bears stormed back scoring seven of the final eight goals to capture the 17-15 victory.

 
Sophomore Julia McCann paced the Bears offense with a team-high six points behind four goals and two assists, while first-year Ashley Noto shined again in the offensive zone scoring four goals and dishing out one assist. Senior goalkeeper Alexa Machado allowed just one goal in the fourth quarter while collecting 15 saves which ranks second most in a game this season.

 
First-year Abby Burkholder finished with a game-high four groundballs while juniors Bev Lewis and Mary Michaud tied for the team lead with two caused turnovers a piece. Sophomore Grace Lynch continued her stellar season collecting her eighth hat trick of the season behind a three goal, one assist performance.

 
Dickinson struck first in the opening minute as Liv Yeagle connected on a scoring opportunity to put the Red Devils ahead by one. McCann won the ensuing draw control and the Bears quickly responded as Noto capitalized on an isolation opportunity sneaking her shot past the Red Devils netminder to tie the game at one a piece. Dickinson quickly responded behind a 6-1 run and held a 7-2 advantage with 2:08 remaining in the period. The momentum changed hands shorty after as the Bears started to control more draws. Ursinus won four straight draw controls and the offense put together a 4-0 run to close the period, trailing 7-6. McCann started the run with a goal, before senior Reilly Morgan, sophomore Maeve Leonzi, and Noto each tallied goals over the final two minutes of play.

 
First-year Meghan Vizian won the opening draw control of the second period for Ursinus, and McCann quickly tied the game at seven a piece with a goal at the 14:42-mark. McCann caught a pass near the midfield and advanced past two Red Devil defenders before creating a one-on-one opportunity and finding the back of the net. Dickinson responded with back-to-back goals over a two-minute span to regain a 9-7 lead with 13:04 remaining in the half. Ursinus scored on back-to-back opportunities to tie the game at nine a piece as Lynch and Vizian each added goals. The Bears collected their first lead of the contest at the 5:03-mark as Lynch added her second goal behind creating space between a defender and wrapping past the Red Devils goalkeeper for her second score of the period. Dickinson closed out the final four minutes of action with back-to-back goal to regain an 11-10 lead heading into halftime.

 
The Red Devils controlled the momentum at the start of the second half scoring three consecutive goals to take a 14-10 lead with 11:51 remaining in the period. After a Bears timeout, McCann added her fourth goal of the game at the 10:27-mark. The sophomore midfielder caught a pass at the top of the circle and juked past her defender to create the space for an open opportunity. Each defense stepped up over the next minutes as the Bears defense forced three turnovers and Machado tallied a save to keep the deficit at three. Ursinus started to close the gap with four minutes remaining in the period, as back-to-back goals from Noto and senior Julie Cherneskie cut the Bears deficit to one. The Bears added the final goal of the period with just four seconds remaining when Michaud recorded her first goal of the game to tie the score at 14.

 
The three consecutive goals at the end of the third period sparked the Ursinus offense as they carried their play into the final stanza, scoring two quick goals to regain a 16-14 lead. First, McCann found Noto for an open opportunity and Noto dished a pass to Lynch to stretch the lead to two. After a save from Machado at the 12:58-mark, Michaud added another goal to extend the Bears lead to three. Dickinson added the final goal of the contest at the 10:19-mark to make the score 17-15. The Bears defense and Machado stepped up over the final ten minutes blanking the Red Devils. The defense caused four turnovers while Machado collected four saves to preserve the Centennial Conference victory.

 
Ursinus held a 39-35 edge in shots and a 19-16 advantage in draw controls. The Bears held the Red Devils to a clear percentage of 69% (16-of-23) while Ursinus finished at 76.1% (16-of-21) for the day. Ursinus closed out the contest scoring seven of the final eight goals and will await their matchup for the Centennial Conference playoffs

 
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