COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a late surge, the Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team rallied to defeat Western Connecticut State 10-9 in their home opener on Wednesday afternoon at Patterson Field in non-conference action.
 
 
With the win, the Bears leveled their record to 1-1 and continued their recent run of home opener wins dating back to 2019. Meanwhile, the Wolves who made the NCAA Tournament second round last season, will open the year 0-1.
 
 
Sophomore Aidan Kirk was the catalyst to the Bears comeback as he scored the first three goals of his collegiate career, and the final two goals of the contest. Seven different Bears scored one goal in the contest with two players, senior Jeff Douglas and sophomore Chris Bryant, also notched their first collegiate tallies. Douglas continued his strong play on defense to open 2024 as he also caused four turnovers for the second straight game.
 
 
The Wolves started fast and tallied two goals in the first five minutes to take the early advantage. Kirk got the Bears on the board at the 10:24-mark and the game stayed 2-1 until West Conn. State added another goal with 2:01 left in the first quarter to make it 3-1. However, the Bears shut down the Wolves in the second quarter and used four goals during that same span to go up 5-3 at the half. Bryant started the run at the 11:28-mark before sophomore Harry Sweitzer tied the game just over two minutes later. Sophomore Lars Homan kept the run going with a goal following a pair of saves on the Beard end and first-year Jared Laskin cashed in on a Wolves turnover from a clear to cap the run.
 
 
Douglas kept the run going into the third quarter with his goal to make it 6-3 at the 10:45-mark. However, the course of the game changed when the Bears were handed a two minute non-releasable penalty at just over a minute later followed by another 30 second infraction shortly thereafter. West Conn. State took advantage of the non-releasable penalty with a pair of goals that made it a 6-5 game at the 7:46-mark. The Wolves later tied the game at six with 4:24 left in the third quarter. Western Connecticut State took its first lead since early in the second quarter on a goal in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and capped its run two minutes later to make it 8-6. Ursinus ended a near 18-minute scoring drought when senior Brett Wilkinson made it a one goal game at the 7:59-mark. West Conn. State answered to make it 9-7 at the 4:26-mark that set the stage for the Ursinus heroics. Senior Eddie Newman brought the Bears within one at the 3:32-mark on a man-down situation and Kirk scored shortly after a Wolves turnover off the faceoff to tie the game. Ursinus won a hard-fought ensuing faceoff and Kirk scored what turned out to be the game-winner on a turnaround shot at the 1:23-mark. Ursinus got the ball back off a Wolves turnover following a faceoff win but were unable to run the clock out to give West Conn. State one last shot. However, the Wolves were unable to get a last second shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
 
 
The Bears held a 51-42 shot advantage for the game and a 25-21 edge in shots on goal. Ursinus held a 40-35 advantage in ground balls while the Wolves edged the Bears in faceoff wins, 12-10. Senior goalkeeper Jonathan Singer turned in a strong outing for the Bears with 12 saves during the full 60 minutes to earn the win. Wolves goalkeeper Brendan Grove suffered the loss after making 15 saves in the full time. Benjamin Hawthorne led West Conn. State with five goals behind two goals and three assists.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Wednesday February 28th as they will travel to face Arcadia at 7:00 p.m.