COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus men's lacrosse team opened its home slate on Wednesday night by defeating Widener by a 7-1 count. The Bears again held an opponent without a goal in the second half for the second straight contest.
Junior midfielder Jake Weber, junior attack Mike Neal and sophomore attack Logan Panaccione completed the trifecta, as they all had two goals in the game, with junior attack Steve Smyrl having two assists and a goal. Junior attack Mark Stratton also added in two assists as Ursinus held Widener to just 11 shots in the second half.
Smyrl started the scoring for Ursinus just 1:18 into the game on an extra-man goal off of a Stratton assist, with Stratton assisting on Weber's first goal at 2:12 for a 2-0 lead.
Widener got its lone goal at 14:20 on a scrum in front of the goal when Reed Hoffman scored for a 2-1 Ursinus lead.
Neal scored his first goal of the game at 7:56, accounting for Ursinus' lone goal of the quarter and a 3-1 halftime lead.
Panaccione scored his first goal of the game with 10:15 left in the third on a Smyrl assists, with Smyrl assisting on Weber's goal with 8:09 left in the third for a 5-1 lead.
Panaccione scored his second with 11:41 left in the fourth, followed by a goal from Neal at 6:44.
Senior faceoff specialist Shawn Caven was brilliant at the X, winning 8-of-11 faceoffs on the day. He also picked up five ground balls, including one in traffic as he was being pelted by Widener defenders. Junior defender Cody Lefevre had three caused turnovers on the night.
Sophomore goalkeeper Brian Neff, the Centennial Conference Defender of the Week, made 11 saves on the day.
Ursinus hosts 15th-ranked Ithaca on Saturday.