COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team battled throughout but fell in the final moments to No. 23 Haverford College, 13-12, on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field.
 
 
With the loss, Ursinus falls to 4-5 overall and opens Centennial Conference play 0-1. Meanwhile, the Fords improve to 8-2 on the season and begin Centennial play 1-0. Ursinus took a 12-11 lead with 4:15 remaining in the contest, but two goals in the final minutes gave the Fords the road victory.
 
 
Senior Maeve Leonzi, junior Ashley Noto, and sophomore Jaime Michaud led the Bears offense with three goals apiece. Sophomore Dana DeSiato added two assists, while junior Sophia Curtis paced the Bears defense with three caused turnovers. Curtis and senior Andrea Hook finished with a team-high three ground balls apiece.
 
 
Haverford jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, with their first goal came at the 14:06-mark after winning the opening draw control. Ursinus responded at the 10:31-mark as Leonzi netted her first goal to tie the score at one apiece. Leonzi received a pass parallel to the goal, juked back inside of her defender, and fired a shot past the Fords' goalie to even the score. After a Haverford score, Ursinus answered with a goal by Noto to tie the score at two with 2:11 remaining in the first period. Haverford's Kylie McNamara added her second goal of the quarter, giving the Fords a 3-2 advantage heading into the second stanza.
 
 
Ursinus opened the second period with a goal from Michaud to tie the score at three with 13:07 remaining in the half. After the Bears' defense denied a scoring opportunity, Michaud received a pass at the top of the circle and split two defenders for her first goal. After a Haverford goal, Ursinus responded with back-to-back goals to gain their first lead at 5-4 with 4:37 remaining in the half. On the first goal, Michaud snuck past a defender and sent a bouncing shot past the Fords' defense. Next, DeSiato found Leonzi cutting across the middle, and Leonzi sent an off-balance shot between two defenders for the go-ahead score. Haverford found the equalizer with 1:38 left in the first half, and the contest entered halftime tied at five.
 
 
To open the third period, Haverford netted the first two goals to regain a 7-5 lead at the 13:05-mark. Ursinus bounced back with goals from senior Grace Lynch and sophomore Ryann Buchner, but still trailed 8-7 with 8:16 remaining in the third period. Lynch's goal came on a free-position opportunity, with Buchner's score coming on a second chance opportunity. On the counterattack, Buchner's first shot was blocked by the Fords, but a ground ball and a quick reshot cut the Bears deficit to one. Haverford netted three of the next four goals to increase their lead to 11-8 lead with 2:58 remaining in the period. Ursinus responded with goals by Noto and Leonzi to close out the period on a 3-2 run, cutting their deficit to 11-10.
 
 
The Bears' defense forced a pair of turnovers to open the final stanza before Noto's third goal at the 10:41-mark tied the score at 11. Next, first-year goalie Allison McAnally denied a scoring opportunity before DeSiato setup Michaud for the go-ahead goal, giving Ursinus a 12-11 lead with 4:12 remaining. DeSiato created space between the defender and found Michaud cutting in front of the crease for the score. Unfortunately, Haverford scored the final two goals of the contest to claim the 13-12 Centennial victory.  
 
 
Haverford held a 35-26 advantage in shots, a 20-19 edge in shots on goal, and Ursinus earned a 16-13 lead in draw controls. The Bears finished with a clear percentage of 81.2% (13-of-16), while Haverford cleared 82.3% (14-of-17) of their opportunities. Haverford's Annie Bravacos earned the victory in goal behind eight saves, with McAnally suffered the loss despite a career-high nine saves.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, March 26th as they travel to Chester, Pennsylvania, for a non-conference matchup against Widener University at 7 p.m.