COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team closed the 2016 season in style, dominating after halftime on the way to an impressive 14-8 Centennial Conference victory over Muhlenberg on Saturday afternoon.
After honoring Margaret Philbin, Mary Deliberti, Jessica Hill, Brynn Dietzel, and Devin Brakel on Senior Day, Ursinus (8-8, 4-5) emerged from a 4-4 deadlock at intermission with a remarkable run that left the high-powered Mules (11-5, 4-5) grasping at air for much of the second half. The Bears scored five goals in the first four minutes of the second stanza, part of a stretch of seven unanswered markers that had the home side cruising to its first victory over Muhlenberg in four years.
Freshman Kaci McNeave went off for a career-high six points, complementing a career high-tying four goals with her first multi-assist game to keep the Bears' offense humming. Fellow first-year Courtney Cortese notched her second collegiate hat-trick, including the go-ahead goal just over a minute into the second half, and Brakel collected two goals in the final game of her career. Freshman Abby Goldstein finished (assist) and sophomore Franny Liberatoscioli tallied two goals apiece.
Philbin made 12 saves in her 48th career start and Dietzel contributed three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Following an even first half, Cortese put Ursinus ahead to stay at the 28:53 mark, collecting the loose ball off a deflected pass and quickly firing past Mules goaltender Sara Allison to make it 5-4. Just 16 seconds later, junior Lisa Grous recorded the 100th draw control of her career, which led to a transition opportunity and a free-position attempt for Liberatoscioli, who buried it to double the margin.
The Bears tacked on three goals in the next 97 seconds, Goldstein bookending the rush with a pair of nearly identical goals in which she used a spin move to get free before pumping multiple times and beating Allison with well-placed efforts; her second tally stretched the lead to 9-4 at the 26-minute mark.
Brakel netted the Bears' 10th goal, scoring off a restart with a low shot, and Cortese put a bow on the 7-0 run with an unassisted goal to swell the lead to 11-4 at 16:29. The rest was window dressing for Ursinus, which controlled the lion's share of the action against a Muhlenberg team that received votes in the IWLCA Division III poll on multiple occasions this season.
Kelsey Nagle had three goals and an assist to lead the Mules, who went just 3-of-12 on free-position attempts, five of their efforts stoned by Philbin. Allison finished with six saves before giving way to Kiersten Mulvey for the final 16:29 of game time.
Ursinus outshot Muhlenberg, 29-26, and enjoyed a 17-7 advantage in draw controls; freshman Bridget Sherry led the way with a career-high seven, the most by a Bear since Julia Fleming matched that number in last year's season finale at Muhlenberg. Grous had four draws and a ground ball, Cortese controlled three, and Liberatoscioli recorded two to go with a pair of grounders. Freshman Emily Blaszkow caused two turnovers and had two ground balls.
In addition to her dozen stops, Philbin caused two turnovers and registered two ground balls on the way to her 18th career victory.
Ursinus' 4-5 record in conference play was its best since going 5-4 in 2012.
