COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a huge second quarter, the Ursinus College women's lacrosse team defeated Swarthmore College 15-12 on Wednesday evening from Patterson Field.
With the victory, the Bears improved to 6-5 overall and moved to 2-1 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Garnet fall to 7-3 on the season and sit at 0-3 in conference play.
Ursinus and Swarthmore both honored Ursinus alumna, Anita Deasey '75, a former Ursinus and Swarthmore assistant lacrosse coach who touched the lives as a mentor, teammate, and friend. The Garnet and Bears acknowledged Anita's living passion for high achievement, love of the competition, integrity for fair play, and enthusiasm for the game before the contest.
The contest started scoreless for the first two minutes of action, before Swarthmore tallied back-to-back goals and led 2-0 at the 11:05-mark. Ursinus quickly responded with a 2-0 run to tie the game at two a piece with back-to-back goals from first-year
Ashley Noto and senior
Reilly Morgan. The Bears tallied the first lead of the contest at the 6:17-mark as senior
Emma Wood assisted on a
Grace Lynch goal to give Ursinus a one-goal lead. After Swarthmore answered with a goal, the Bears bounced back with Noto's second of the game to regain a 4-3 lead at the end of the first period.
The Bears found their grove in the second period outscoring the Garnet 6-1 in the middle frame. Ursinus won the opening draw control of the period and Lynch found Vizian to extend the Bears lead to two at the 14:30-mark. Moments later after a Swarthmore turnover, once again Lynch assisted on a goal from
Reilly Morgan to increase the Bears lead to three. With Ursinus leading 6-3, the Bears defense stepped up as senior goalkeeper
Alexa Machado was credited with a save and senior
Julie Cherneskie created a Garnet turnover. On the fast break, sophomore
Maeve Leonzi made a move past her defender before whipping a shot past the Garnet defense increasing the Bears lead to four at the 8:34-mark.
The Bears carried their momentum into the next possession as
Julia McCann capitalized on a free position opportunity, slipping past two defenders before sinking her shot past the Swarthmore netminder. After winning the ensuing draw control, Vizian found classmate Noto on a sweet pass and shot to stretch the Ursinus lead to six with 6:15 remaining in the half. At the top of the circle, Vizian found Noto near the net and after completing the pass, Noto made a spin move and found the top right corner of the back of the net. With under two minutes remaining in the half, Noto found the back of the net for her fourth goal of the first half and extended the Bears lead to seven. Behind the net, Noto came around the corner and made a move past her defender before sending a bounce shot between the legs of the Swarthmore goalie.
The Garnet added a late goal in the half with 48 seconds remaining to cut their halftime deficit to six.
With Ursinus leading 10-4 at halftime, Swarthmore climbed back into the contest with the first two goals of the second half to cut their deficit to four. The Garnet halftime adjustments continued to pay off as they cut their deficit to three at the 6:17-mark with a goal from Emma Holub leading to an Ursinus timeout. McCann won the ensuing draw control for Ursinus and set up Lynch for a free position opportunity at the 5:31-mark. Lynch charged at the Swarthmore netminder, but her shot aimed between the legs of the goalie was stuffed from Swarthmore's Helen Stafford.
The Garnet answered on the fast break, as a goal from Francesca Richardson cut the Bears lead to two. With 3:51 remaining in the period, junior
Mary Michaud answered for the Bears halting the Garnet 4-0 run with a goal to give Ursinus a 11-8 lead. Michaud was one-on-one with her defender before making a move past her and sprinting past the Swarthmore goalie for her first goal of the game. Ursinus extended their lead to four as Michaud once again added a goal behind a similar offensive move and sneaking a left-handed shot past the Swarthmore goalie. Vizian collected the ensuing draw control, and the Bears regained the momentum behind a goal from McCann to give Ursinus a 13-8 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Michaud continued the stellar play in the opening minutes of the final stanza recording her second hat trick of the season with a goal at the 13:13-mark. It was her second consecutive game with a hat trick, and it occurred over just six minutes and 36 seconds of game action. Swarthmore answered with back-to-back goals over just forty seconds of play to cut their deficit to four with 8:20-remaining in the contest leading to an Ursinus timeout. After the Bears timeout, Swarthmore cut their deficit to three with a goal from Isabela Bloomquist at the 6:32-mark.
During the ensuing Garnet possession, the Bears defense stepped up and forced a turnover leading to Vizian's second goal of the game. Vizian spit two defenders before sending a low shot between the legs of the Garnet goalkeeper to give Ursinus a four-point advantage with 3:28 remaining. Swarthmore added a late goal with time winding down as the Bears earned the 15-12 victory.
Noto paced the Ursinus offense with four goals while Lynch tallied four points behind one goal and three assists. Michaud's three goals turned the tide of the game late in the third quarter, while Vizian and McCann each scored two goals. First-year
Abby Burkholder anchored the defense finishing with a team-high three caused turnovers and four groundballs.
Ursinus held a 30-26 advantage in shots while holding an 8-5 advantage in forced turnovers. The Bears were successful on 84.2% (16-of-19) of their clear attempts while the Garnet converted 85% (17-of-20) of their attempts. Machado earned the win in net for Ursinus finishing with eight saves and a 40% save percentage, meanwhile Swarthmore's Stafford was dealt the loss after recording 13 saves and finishing with a 46.4% save percentage.
The Bears return to action on Saturday as they travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a matchup with No.10 Franklin & Marshall.
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