GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Stepping on the field for the third time this season, the Ursinus-Gettysburg men's lacrosse matchup needed extra time to decide the winner.
Trailing by three goals, Ursinus rallied to tie the score, withstanding two Gettysburg punches to force the extra frame.
However, Gettysburg (19-0) ranked second in the country, got a goal on their first possession in the second overtime to take a 10-9 win over 13th-ranked Ursinus (14-4) at Shirk Field on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Gettysburg advances to the quarterfinals to take on Ohio Wesleyan.
Gettysburg's Paul Werner scored with 1:10 into the second overtime on an assist by Reed Barbe as the shot came right in the middle of the box.
Ursinus got two goals from junior attack Steve Mussoline (Macungie, Pa./ACC) and senior attack Mark Stratton (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township) while five other players scored for the Bears. The Bears tied the score in the final 1:35, when junior attack Logan Panaccione (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) scored on an assist from Mussoline.
Following the goal, Ursinus had four cracks at the goal in the final 95 seconds. Panaccione's shot came the closest, just glancing the bottom of the right post and going wide.
In the overtime, Ursinus got first crack at it but could not get a shot off. Gettysburg came down and tried to end the game in the first overtime, but, junior goalkeeper Brian Neff (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) made a save to end the threat.
The Bears rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the first quarter, and got on the board when junior attack Tucker Noel (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) scored with four seconds left on an assist from senior midfielder Jake Weber (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township).
The stats could not have been anymore even, as both teams won six faceoffs, and grabbed almost the same amount of ground balls (GC with 33-31 edge).
For Ursinus, Neff made 16 saves on the day. Junior James Fairchild (Wayne, Pa./Malvern Prep) was 11-for-22 on faceoffs, and had five ground balls. Junior longstick midfielder Patrick O'Donoghue (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) grabbed five ground balls as well, and had two caused turnovers.
Ursinus finished the season with the most wins in school history and advanced to the NCAA second round for the first time ever.