COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a pair of second half goals, the 17th-ranked Ursinus College Field Hockey team picked up a 2-1 victory over Messiah University on Wednesday evening from Snell Alumnae Field.
With the victory, Ursinus improves to 4-1 on the season while the Falcons fell to 1-2 overall. The victory marks as the Bears' first win over the Falcons since a 2-1 decision in September of 2021. Junior midfielder
Lauren Breisch found the equalizer in the 34th minute behind a penalty shot. Just two minutes later, senior
Mary Lauren Franz extended her goal streak to seven games as a score in the 36th minute gave Ursinus the lead.
Messiah came out firing in the opening minute as they recorded three consecutive shots including two on goal, but each were saved by the Bears defense to keep the contest scoreless. During a penalty corner, junior goalkeeper
Adriana Palladinetti collected back-to-back saves to keep the Falcons off the board. In the eighth minute, Ursinus tallied consecutive penalty corner opportunities but came away empty handed to keep the contest tied at zero. With under a minute remaining in the period, Palladinetti denied another strong scoring opportunity on goal by the Falcons. Unfortunately, a rebound found Messiah's Carrie Bair and her pass across the crease found Hailey Womer for the goal as Messiah led 1-0 at the end of the first period. Much of the second period remained a battle of the midfielders as Messiah tallied the only two shots of the period resulting in a 1-0 deficit for the Bears at halftime.
After the halftime adjustments, Ursinus quickly responded by scoring the equalizer in the 34th minute to tie the contest at one apiece. Sophomore
Kirsten Johnson intercepted a Falcon pass before sprinting inside the circle and drawling a penalty shot. Breisch stepped up to the circle for Ursinus and fired a shot towards the right post for her second goal of the season. At the 36:53-mark, Franz tallied the game-winning goal and conference leading ninth goal of the season to extend the Bears lead to 2-1. After Ursinus denied a scoring opportunity from the Falcons, senior
Maeve Montgomery fired a pass into the midfield finding Franz on the counterattack. Franz made a move past the defender finding sophomore
Ava Mikulski with space inside the circle. Mikulski dished a pass back to Franz who drilled a shot towards the left corner for the goal. Each team combined for a shot on goal and penalty corner over the remainder of the period, but Ursinus controlled a 2-1 advantage entering the final stanza. At the 50:39-mark on a Messiah penalty corner, Chelsea Carpenter tallied a shot for the Falcons, but her opportunity missed wide to keep Ursinus ahead by one. Over the final three minutes of action, Messiah recorded a trio of shots but the Bears defense and Palladinetti stood tall to deny each scoring chance and give Ursinus a 2-1 victory.
Messiah held a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal and a 4-2 edge in penalty corner opportunities. Palladinetti earned the victory in goal for the Bears behind five saves, while Messiah's Eva Hancock suffered the loss recording one save.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, September 25th as they host No. 14 The College of New Jersey at 7 p.m. from Snell Alumnae Field.
