COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team held a 5-3 lead in the middle of the first half but couldn't withstand a barrage of unanswered goals by Cabrini in a 16-6 setback in the season opener at Patterson Field.
Sophomores Hanna Crowley and Grace Langen each scored two goals apiece for Ursinus, with Crowley recording her first career goals in her collegiate debut. Senior Emily DiGiorgio handed out a career-high three assists and picked up a goal to lead the Bears' attack, and freshman Jill Verrelle scored her first career goal to round out the Bears' scoring.
Cabrini, picked to win a conference crown for the eighth straight season, scored a quick goal from Avery Murphy just 33 seconds into the game to open the scoring. Murphy went on to have a monster game, picking up from her 77-goal and 104-point total last season. She notched six goals on an efficient eight shots and added two helpers on the day.
The Bears went back and forth with the Cavaliers as Ursinus responded about four minutes in with Crowley finding the back of the net from an assist by DiGiorgio, who passed to Langen out front for the finish to go up 2-1. Murphy evened the score 2-2 off a free-position attempt, but Crowley's second shot found the back of the net with a low blast as she fell to the ground at the 21:19 mark to get the Bears up 3-2.
Cabrini's Shea Neary snuck one between the legs into the net a couple minutes later. Neary contributed four goals and an assist.
Ursinus went on a two-goal spurt to go up 5-3. DiGiorgio's third helper found Verrelle near the goal, who made a nice slashing move toward the net. DiGiorgio's high shot positon shot beat Cabrini's keeper to give the Bears a two-goal lead with 11:19 to go in the half.
More than seven minutes later, Cabrini's Neary recorded her second goal before Murphy powered home her third tally on a crafty free-position stroke by Murphy to tie game 5-5. Katie Kucia fired a bullet into the cage on an eight-meter attempt with two minutes left to give the Cavaliers a 6-5 edge heading into intermission.
The Cavaliers used a strong end to the first half to propel themselves into a massive 10-1 second half. Cabrini went on to score 13 unanswered goals to power past the Bears. Murphy added three tallies and two helpers in the last stanza.
Aside from the powerful duo of Murphy and Neary, Dana Carlson registered a hat trick.
Ursinus was held to nine second-half shots and went scoreless for about 40 minutes of play until Langen scored to close the game in the final minute.
Helping spark the big run was the domination of the draw circle, where the Cavaliers won 15 of the 22 faceoffs. Cabrini also ripped 32 shots compared to the Bears' 21 attempts.
On free-position shots, the Bears left a bit on the table, going just 1-of-10 in those situations. Cabrini went 6-of-13.
Cabrini goalkeeper Sam Hamalak was solid in the cage as she made eight saves in the win. Ursinus senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn France stopped 11 shots for the Bears, while senior Bridget Sherry had four draw controls, four ground balls, and three caused turnovers.
Each team committed 24 turnovers.
Ursinus hosts Albright on Saturday at 1 p.m.