COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Junior Harry Sweitzer scored the game-winning goal in triple overtime to lift the Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team to a 12-11 win over DeSales in non-conference action on a windy Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 1-3 overall while the Bulldogs fell to 0-5 in a game that featured nine lead changes and eight ties. It was the first triple overtime game for Ursinus since the 2017 season when they defeated Montclair State 11-10.
 
 
DeSales opened the scoring at the 10:59-mark of the first quarter but was quickly answered 31 seconds later by junior Lars Homan that knotted the score up at one. The Bulldogs countered again at the 9:40-mark and Sweitzer quickly tied it at two to keep the high-scoring first quarter moving. Sophomore Daniel Kupiec took advantage of a man-up situation to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 3-2 with 7:16 left in the first quarter and classmate Jared Laskin added another goal over a minute later to give Ursinus their first multi-goal lead of the game at 4-2. First-year Daniel Rice netted his first collegiate goal after another Bulldogs goal to put Ursinus up 5-3 at the 4:32-mark before DeSales finished the quarter with back-to-back goals that tied things up at five. DeSales continued their run and went up 6-5 at the 10:32-mark of the second quarter. Unlike the first quarter, the second quarter combined for just two goals as Rice snapped a 17-minute scoreless span at the 2:32 mark that tied the game at six.
 
 
Junior Aidan Kirk gave the Bears a 7-6 lead 50 seconds into the third quarter before the Bulldogs took advantage of a man-up opportunity and tied the game at seven at the 12:16-mark. DeSales made it 8-7 with a goal at the 8:03-mark before Rice completed a hat trick and tied the game up once again. The Bulldogs took the lead back with 2:13 left in the third quarter until Homan tied things back up with a long range shot at the 12:54-mark of the fourth quarter. Homan gave Ursinus a 10-9 lead with 11:09 left in regulation and junior Chris Bryant took advantage of a 10-man ride situation and hit an open net to extend the Bears lead to 11-9 at the 6-minute mark. The Bears locked down the Bulldogs for most of the fourth quarter but were unable to add an extra goal late in the fourth quarter to get some more breathing room down the stretch. The missed opportunities came back to bite Ursinus as DeSales made it a one goal game off a turnover with 57 seconds left in regulation. DeSales won the ensuing faceoff and buried the game-tying goal with 2.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
 
Ursinus won the opening faceoff of the first overtime but had a shot blocked on their first possession. DeSales turned the ball over twice in the first overtime, but the Bears had a pair of shots saved in between that forced a second overtime. The teams traded turnovers to start the second overtime and DeSales had a shot saved at the 1:57-mark which gave Ursinus another chance. The Bears were unable to convert on three shot attempts that sent things to a third overtime. Ursinus won the opening faceoff of the third overtime and Sweitzer won the game with a wrap-around shot following a timeout at the 3:23-mark.
 
 
The Bears held a 45-36 shot advantage for the game and a 24-20 edge in shots on goal. Ursinus held a 42-37 advantage in ground balls and a slight edge in faceoff wins at 15-13. Homan paced the Bears with four points off three goals and one assist while Rice matched with three goals. Sweitzer finished with two goals and one assist for three points and senior Christopher Pucciarelli added three points off two assists and one goal. Bears first-year goalkeeper Colin Daroch earned his first collegiate win after making nine saves in the full 68:37 while Bulldogs goalkeeper Hunter Waldron made 12 saves in the loss.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, March 8th as they will face No. 2 RIT at Penn State University's Panzer Stadium at 2:00 p.m.