COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - The No. 18 Ursinus Men's Lacrosse team went back and forth with No. 5 St. John Fisher on Saturday afternoon in a battle that lived up to the hype. St. John Fisher used a late three-goal run to defeat the Bears on an unseasonably warm March afternoon at Patterson Field.
With the loss, the Bears fell to 3-4 overall and wrapped up a stretch that saw them face three teams ranked inside the top five in the national Division III polls during the last 10 days. Meanwhile, the Cardinals of the Liberty League improved to 5-0 overall.
The action started early as junior Tyler Falco put the Bears on the board at the 13:39-mark after a long possession following winning the opening faceoff. The Cardinals knotted the score at one at the 10:29-mark following a quick clear, but senior Stephen Schoenborn put the Bears back in front just 2:03 later as he continued his hot stretch of play. St. John Fisher took its first lead of the game following two goals in a span of 1:03 before the Bears countered with two-straight of their own to take a 4-3 lead after one. Senior Tre Tillman took advantage of an aggressive 10-man ride from the Cardinals and buried a shot in an empty net before Falco added his second goal just 29 seconds later. Falco then continued his scorching start by scoring his third goal of the game just 52 seconds into the second quarter, putting the Bears up 5-3. The Cardinals scored back-to-back goals once again to tie the score back up at five with 11:04 left in the first half, but Schoenborn answered with his second to put the Bears back in front once more at 6-5. Junior Tyler Neal extended the Bears lead to 7-5 on a dazzling leap across the entire crease at the 5:44-mark. Neal nearly cashed in once more on the Bears following possession as he had a hard shot saved in front, which led to a Cardinals goal on the other end to make it 7-6. Calabro responded on a second chance opportunity following an initial deep shot from Falco to put the Bears up 8-6 at the half.
The Cardinals came out firing in the third quarter as they netted two goals in the first 4:22 of the to tie the game at eight. Calabro notched his third goal of the game at the 6:53-mark after Schoenborn found him wide open in front of the crease to put Ursinus in front once again by a score of 9-8. The teams battled through an intense third quarter and the Cardinals used a long possession to tie the game at nine with 1:02 left in the third quarter. The goal started a three-goal run for St. John Fisher as they went up 11-9 in the fourth quarter with two goals in the first 2:18. With their backs against the wall, Ursinus scrapped and clawed its way to a three-goal run of their own to go up 12-11 with 4:37 left in regulation. Calabro started the run after receiving a feed from Neal and junior Jake Ojert tied the game at the 7:07-mark after leading a quick clear by himself. Calabro capped his career day by putting the Bears in front on a man-up opportunity. However, behind a dominant fourth quarter in the faceoff circle and two man-up opportunities, the Cardinals survived the Bears upset bid with three goals in a span of 2:04.
St. John Fisher held a 43-36 advantage in total shots for the game while each team tallied 25 shots on goal. The Cardinals held a sizable 43-28 edge in ground balls behind going 20-of-30 in the faceoff circle. Joe Post won 11-of-13 faceoffs for St. John Fisher in the second half, leading to the Cardinals surge at the end of the game. Bears sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Singer suffered the loss despite a valiant effort in net with 11 saves in the full action. Cardinals goalkeeper Ben Hammond earned the win with a stellar 13-save performance during the full time. Calabro led the Bears with a career-high five points on four goals and one assist while Neal (1G, 3A) along with Schoenborn (2G, 2A) each posted four points. Falco recorded three goals which was also a career high.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, March 30th as they will host Washington College at 7 p.m. for their Centennial Conference opener.