WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team used a late fourth quarter push to defeat Catholic 15-14 in non-conference action on Wednesday evening.
 
 
The Bears gained their first win of the season and the first for new head coach Ryan Burke at Ursinus. Meanwhile, the Cardinals fell to 0-3 overall.
 
 
Catholic scored the first goal in the opening minute of the game and junior Neil Hutchinson leveled the score at one with a goal at the 8:45-mark. Senior Harry Sweitzer pushed the Bears ahead for the first time at 3-2 with back-to-back goals after a Catholic tally. Sophomore Daniel Rice countered another Cardinals goal with his first at the 49-second mark to give Ursinus a 4-3 lead into the second quarter. Catholic opened the second quarter with two straight goals to take the lead back at 5-4 before the Bears scored three straight of their own to go up 7-5 at the 4:00-mark. Sweitzer scored the first two goals in the run to push his tally to four and Rice capped the run with his second of the game. The Cardinals got a late goal in the half that made it a 7-6 game at the break.
 
 
Senior Barrett Denlinger gave the Bears a two-goal lead at 8-6 in the opening minute of the third quarter and junior Nick Pomajevich answered a Catholic goal to push the Bears to a 9-7 lead at the 9:49-mark. However, the Cardinals scored four straight goals to go up 11-9, their first multi-goal lead of the game, with 5:23 left in the third quarter. Sweitzer ended a 7:28 drought for the Bears with his fifth goal of the game that made it 11-10 before Rice tied the game just under a minute later on a man-up opportunity. Senior Lars Homan kept the momentum going by beating the horn at the end of the third quarter to put Ursinus back up at 12-11. Denlinger then tallied the next two Ursinus goals around a Catholic tally that gave Ursinus a 14-12 lead with 10:07 left in regulation. Homan gave the Bears an insurance goal at the 5:32-mark to make it 15-12, but the Cardinals made it interesting with back-to-back goals to bring the score to 15-14 with 2:26 left in regulation. Catholic won the ensuing faceoff before a turnover ended their comeback hopes as the Bears held possession for the rest of the game.
 
 
The Bears held a 49-44 shot advantage for the game and a 31-26 edge in shots on goal. Catholic held a 31-28 advantage in ground balls and 18-13 in faceoff wins. Bears sophomore goalkeeper Colin Daroch made 12 saves in 60 minutes to earn the win while Catholic goalkeeper Colton Manorek tallied 16 saves in the loss. Sweitzer registered a team-high six points with five goals and one assist while Denlinger plus Rice tallied three goals apiece.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Friday, February 27^th as they will travel to face DeSales at 7:00 p.m.