HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team held a first quarter lead, but were eventually upended by No. 24 Haverford College, 15-11, on Wednesday evening.

 
With the defeat, Ursinus now sits at 7-6 overall, 3-3 in Centennial Conference action, and currently ranks fifth in the conference standings. Meanwhile, the Fords improved to 9-4 overall, 5-1 in conference play, and now are tied for second in the CC standings.

 
Senior Mary Michaud paced the Bears lineup behind tying a season-high with four goals. Junior Julia McCann and sophomore Meghan Vizian each added two goals, while juniors Maeve Leonzi, Grace Lynch, and sophomore Ashley Noto tallied a goal apiece. On the defensive side, sophomore Abby Burkholder led the team with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. During the Bears first scoring opportunity, McCann received a pass at the top of the circle, ran past two defenders, and fired a shot towards the bottom right corner of the cage for the opening tally.

 
The Bears jumped out to a quick start as they scored the first three goals to take a commanding 3-0 lead with 8:43 remaining in the opening stanza. McCann netted her first goal, before Michaud and Vizian each collected their first goals to give Ursinus an early advantage. After Michaud's goal, Lynch snuck a pass between two defenders to Vizian who delivered a shot past the Fords netminder and into the back of the cage. Haverford quickly responded with a 3-0 run to tie the game at three apiece with six minutes remaining in the first period. The Fords capitalized off a free-position opportunity, before a total of three green cards were handed out leading to Haverford's equalizer. After each team traded scores, Vizian netted her second goal to give Ursinus a 5-4 lead heading into the second quarter. With 1:20 remaining in the period, Vizian received a pass, made a spin move, and fired a backhanded shot towards the top corner of the cage to give Ursinus a one-goal lead.

 
The first seven minutes of action in the second period featured stellar defense from both squads as both netminders were credited with a save and each back line totaled two caused turnovers. At the 8:26-mark, Haverford netted a free-position goal by Abby Bonner to tie the contest at five apiece. Just three minutes later, the Fords capitalized on another scoring opportunity to gain their first lead of the game with 5:17 remaining in the first half. Sophomore goalie Camille Hubbs was credited with four saves during the period, but the Bears trailed 6-5 heading into the halftime break.

 
After the coaches' adjustments, Ursinus scored the opening goal of the second half as first-year Dana DeSiato found Michaud for a goal at the 14:01-mark to tie the game at six. The Bears were issued their sixth green card of the game at the 11:40-mark, leading to a Haverford goal under a minute later. Haverford stretched their lead to 8-6, before Ursinus bounced back with a goal by Michaud to cut their deficit to one with 6:32 remaining in the quarter. Both teams traded goals over the remainder of the period as the Fords held a 10-9 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Leonzi and Noto each tallied goals for the Bears in the period as Noto's goal with just nine seconds remaining in the period.

 
Haverford scored the opening goal of the final stanza, but the Bears responded with a goal from Lynch to cut their deficit to 11-10 with 9:02 remaining in the contest. Lynch capitalized on a free-position opportunity to cut the Bears deficit to one. Unfortunately, Haverford scored four of the final five goals to earn a 15-11 victory.

 
The Fords held a 36-25 advantage in shot, a 22-17 edge in shots on goal, and forced a total of 22 Bears turnovers. Ursinus built off a 16-14 edge in draw controls, while converting on four of their seven free-position opportunities. In goal, Haverford's Symonds earned the victory in goal behind six saves (.353 save percentage), while Hubbs suffered the loss recording seven saves on 36 shots faced.

 
The Bears will return to action on Saturday as they host No. 8 Gettysburg College for a Centennial Conference matchup from Patterson Field at noon.