COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's lacrosse team combined lethal passing and a monster performance from an unexpected source to cruise to a 16-9 victory over Widener on Saturday afternoon. Senior Steve Mussoline exploded for a career-high seven points – two more than his season total coming into the weekend – and the Bears handed out a season-high 12 assists in stretching their winning streak to three.
Mussoline poured in a career-best five goals – three of them in the first quarter – and added two assists for Ursinus (5-1), which remained unbeaten at Patterson Field with an impressive offensive effort. Senior Logan Panaccione finished with two goals and three assists, giving him 11 points in his last two outings, and freshman Peter DeSimone registered his first hat-trick, also chipping in with an assist.
Sophomore Gerard Brown added to his Centennial Conference-leading assist total with three more, and Desenberg (goal, two assists) and junior Matthew Cioeta (two goals, assist) had three points each in a brutally balanced output.
Mussoline came into Saturday's game with five points on the season, two of them coming on goals in last week's victory at Elizabethtown. The senior nearly matched that total in the first 12 minutes, accounting for the Bears' first four goals with three of his own and an assist on one by freshman Peter DeSimone.
Ursinus led 5-1 when sophomore Ian Desenberg and junior Matthew Cioeta hooked up for a goal, and stretched the lead out further on a beautiful tic-tac-toe sequence in close from Desenberg to Panaccione to DeSimone, who potted home into a wide-open net. After freshman Sam Isola sent a bounding shot into the back of the net, the Bears had opened up a 7-1 lead on their first ten shots and posted their highest scoring quarter since an eight-goal frame in a victory over Messiah two years ago.
Widener (1-4) tallied the first two goals of the second period, only for Ursinus to respond with a five-goal deluge that left the Pride reeling. Freshman Sam Isola scored off a nifty spin move, and DeSimone finished off a nice feed from Desenberg from X for the team's second man-up marker. Sophomore Lou Harrison netted the Bears' 10th goal of the afternoon with 3:38 to play in the half, dodging to his right for the space to fire a rocket past Tyler McClary, who was pulled afterwards.
Mussoline scored unassisted at the 1:06 mark, tying a career high with his fourth goal, and set up junior Matthew Cioeta for another with just 17 seconds remaining on the first-half clock, swelling the bulge to 12-3 at the break.
DeSimone joined Mussoline with a hat-trick by half, and Panaccione dished out three helpers in the first two quarters to match the total he put up in a six-point effort last weekend. The Bears won 13 of 16 face-offs and assisted on 10 of their dozen first-half goals, matching their season high.
The Pride showed some of their nickname coming out of the locker room, posting three unanswered goals to get within 12-6 before Panaccione sent a cross-crease find from Brown into the back of the net. After Widener responded with a goal of its own, Panaccione roofed a top-shelf blast just under the bar as the Bears doubled up on the visitors once more, leading 14-7.
Mussoline locked up his career game early in the fourth, when he scooped up the rebound off a kick save and firing past the keeper, who had almost no time to react as Mussoline's effort reached its target in a heartbeat. Cioeta's second of the day capped the Bears' scoring.
Mussoline totaled three ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers in his best performance as a Bear.
Tim Taylor paced Widener with three goals and an assist, and Kyle Gratz added three markers.
Ursinus outshot the Pride, 44-28, and held a 17-11 edge in face-offs. Senior James Fairchild continued his dominance in the circle, scooping up a career-high 11 ground balls to help the Bears to a 44-24 advantage in that category. Cioeta corralled eight grounders, with senior Anthony Torello adding four to go with three caused turnovers, a figure equaled by senior Patrick O'Donoghue.
Senior Brian Neff collected eight saves in goal for Ursinus, which forced Widener into 20 turnovers; the Pride was just 12-of-20 on clear attempts.
Ursinus opens Centennial Conference play against Swarthmore on Saturday, March 26.