WESTMINSTER, MD. – The Ursinus College men's soccer team opened their Centennial Conference slate falling to McDaniel 4-1 on Saturday afternoon from the McDaniel Soccer Complex.
With the loss Ursinus falls to 4-1 overall and will start 0-1 in conference play, meanwhile the Green Terror improved to 3-0-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference action.
The Green Terror jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage through the first 12 minutes after goals from AJ Nordone and Charlote Olson. McDaniel's first goal came just 33 seconds into the contest after a one-on-one opportunity, led to a curling right-footed shot from Nordone for the opening score. At the 12:28-mark, the Green Terror added their second score as a bouncing shot just missed the outstretched arms of the Bears senior goalkeeper
Kirk Ransome for a goal.
Ursinus responded shortly after as the offense picked up the pressure when
Tommy Mollis recorded a shot on goal during the 18
th minute. Mollis' shot towards the bottom right of the net was saved by the McDaniel netminder. After the Bears defense denied a scoring opportunity, Mollis recorded his second shot which missed towards the top left of the goal during the 25
th minute. The Bears closed out the first half with back-to-back shots from Mollis and first-year
Declan Curran, but still trailed 2-0 heading into halftime.
After the halftime adjustments, Ursinus cut their deficit to one at the 58:39-mark when senior
Harry Lorenc assisted on a goal by sophomore
Colin Deal. McDaniel added an insurance goal at the 70:17-mark, as after a foul called inside the box on Ursinus, McDaniel's Brandon Morse converted on a penalty kick to make the score 3-1. McDaniel added a late goal as the rest of the game was a battle in the midfield as neither were able to create scoring opportunities late in the contest.
McDaniel held a slight 12-9 edge in shots while also holding a 4-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities. McDaniel's goalkeeper Austin Heid recorded the victory in net collecting one save over 90 minutes of play, while Ransome was dealt the loss behind two saves.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, September 20
th as they host King's College for a non-conference tilt from Patterson Field at 7 p.m.