COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a late second half from senior
Jack Schmidt, the Ursinus College men's soccer rallied to a 2-1 victory over Haverford College on Wednesday evening from Patterson Field.
With the victory, Ursinus improved to 7-5-2 overall and 1-5-1 in Centennial Conference action, while the Fords fell to 2-9-5 on the season and 0-5-2 in conference play.
The Fords earned the opening scoring opportunity during the third minute as senior netminder
Zach Matik denied the chance via a save. Just three minutes later, senior forward
Luke Luehrs nearly put Ursinus ahead as his scoring chance deflected off the woodwork to keep the contest scoreless. Each team traded shots, until the Bears broke through with the opening score during the 31st minute. During a throw-in attempt, junior
AJ Torres launched a pass into the box, slipping through a defender, and finding first-year
Jason Lotkowski with space. Lotkowski's one-timer deflected off a defender and into the back of the cage to give the Bears an early 1-0 advantage. Ursinus out shot the Fords, 3-1, over the remainder of the first and controlled a 1-0 lead at the halftime break.
Haverford connected on the equalizer at the 51:11-mark as a corner from Thomas Vanni found the head of Andrew Fritz to tie the contest at one apiece. Just before the set piece, Matik denied the previous shot on goal via a diving save attempt leading to the Fords corner opportunity. Ursinus responded with a trio of corner chances from the 63rd through the 67th minute but came way empty handed as the contest remained tied. Later in the half, junior
Enver Desic and Luehrs each recorded shots on goal as the Fords defense denied both chances. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest, sophomore
Declan Curran tallied a shot that deflected off Schmidt and redirected towards the far post for the go-ahead goal for the Bears. The play was setup by Schmidt as the Fords looked to regain possession within the box, and he forced an arrogant pass by the Haverford defense. As the Fords looked to clear the ball, Curran corralled the ball from outside the box and sent a shot on goal that deflected off Schmidt for his first goal of the season. The Bears stood tall over the remainder of the period enroute to the 2-1 decision.
Ursinus held a 14-11 advantage in shots with each team recording six shots on goal, while the Bears held a slight 6-3 edge in corner kick opportunities. Matik earned the victory in goal for the Bears behind five saves over 90 minutes of action. Meanwhile, Haverford's netminder Jackson Simon suffered the loss after allowing two goals and collecting four saves.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, October 26th as they travel to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for a Centennial Conference Road matchup against Dickinson College at 6 p.m.
