GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Ursinus College field hockey team got off to a roaring start in the resumption of Wednesday's suspended contest at Messiah, overturning a 1-0 deficit in less than half a minute. But the Falcons answered just two minutes later and the Bears never recovered, ultimately dropping the top-10 showdown by a 4-1 count for their first loss of the season in a game that took two nights and 25.5 hours to complete.

Junior Brooke Overly scored the lone goal for No. 4 Ursinus (2-1) in a rematch of the 2006 Division III championship, when the Bears brought the title back to Collegeville with a 3-2 triumph. Messiah (2-1) – which has reached the NCAA Tournament 15 years running and finished runner-up six times in that span – had come up empty in the last three meetings, all of them one-goal affairs, but this time was different. Four different players found the back of the cage for the Falcons, who had taken an early lead before multiple lightning strikes forced the game to be postponed Wednesday after just 6:16 of action.

Taking on a nationally ranked opponent for the third consecutive outing, Ursinus needed only 29 seconds to get back on level ground after the resumption of play, taking advantage of a friendly bounce to get on the board in a flash. Sophomore Mikayla Jordan's pass from just outside the top of the circle bounded through traffic before taking a deflection and arriving at the waiting stick of Overly, who poked home the loose ball for her second goal in as many games.

The Falcons continued the flurry of early goals – though the first two were separated by 24 hours – just over two minutes later, regaining the upper hand when Lindsay Bower deflected a pass from Nicole Wilkerson into the Bears' cage for a 2-1 lead just under nine minutes into the contest.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jules Singer made two big back-to-back saves shortly after to prevent Messiah from extending its advantage, and the Bears went into halftime still trailing by just a goal.

Carissa Gehman – who had a hat-trick in the Falcons' 7-0 rout of Haverford last weekend – and Emily Schillinger each tacked on a second-half goal to keep Ursinus at bay. The Bears held an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners, including five after halftime, but were unable to take advantage. 

Singer recorded four saves for the Bears, who were outshot 10-6. Shelby Landes collected three saves to get the win for Messiah. 

These teams met in the NCAA Tournament every year from 2009 to 2011, with Messiah claiming consecutive semifinal victories before Ursinus captured a second-round matchup in 2011.

The Bears continue a five-game road swing at Elizabethtown on Wednesday, September 14 before opening Centennial Conference competition at Gettysburg on Saturday, September 17.