HAVERFORD, Pa. – Trailing by two goals in the second half and having uncovered no answer for Haverford's Tav Hafner, the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team looked to be in deep trouble in Wednesday's Centennial Conference showdown under the Swan Field lights. Then came the boom, and in a few blinks of an eye, the Bears turned the game on its head.

After the last of Hafner's four goals gave Haverford (7-7, 3-4) a 5-3 lead with 13:18 to play in the third quarter, the Bears rattled off four straight goals in a span of less than three minutes, part of a 7-0 run bridging the end of the stanza that rendered a late Fords rally moot and charted the course for an impressive road win in a clash of regionally ranked foes.

Senior Steve Mussoline scored three of his four goals during the game-turning spurt for Ursinus (12-2, 6-1), which clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CC championship for the second straight season. With Wednesday's results in the books, the matchup crystallized – the Bears will host third-seeded Franklin & Marshall in a CC semifinal next Wednesday, May 4.

Sophomore Gerard Brown broke a school record with his 30^th assist of the year, senior Logan Panaccione recorded his 100^th career point with a third-quarter assist, and senior goalie Brian Neff made a season-high 18 saves for the 18^th-ranked Bears, who won their fourth straight against Haverford.

Ursinus led 1-0 after the first quarter, a goal by senior Mike Durst the only scoring between two of the nation's stingiest teams; the Fords came in ranked 14^th in Division III in scoring defense (6.82) while the Bears are 18^th (7.00), and both Neff (13^th) and Haverford's Eric Caliendo (9^th) reside within the top 15 in goals against average. But Hafner scored the next three goals by himself, signaling Haverford's resistance and staking the home side to a 3-1 lead.

The Fords still led by two when Hafner snuck one past Neff early in the second half. But the Bears flipped the script with one of their patented runs, an extended stretch of dominance that began with freshman Peter DeSimone's first goal at 10:13. Twelve seconds later, the game was tied – junior Matthew Cioeta escaped the faceoff scrum with a loose ball and fed upfield to sophomore Ian Desenberg, who snapped a one-timer past Caliendo to make it 5-all.

Less than two minutes later, Panaccione threaded a pass behind the net to Desenberg, who fired into the back of the cage to hand Panaccione his milestone point and give Ursinus the lead for good. Mussoline's unassisted strike stretched the spread to four, and Neff made three saves in a single sequence around the five-minute mark to keep it there until junior Zach Jones picked up a ground ball and led the fast break, a sequence of quick passes eventually leading to a goal by senior Patrick O'Donoghue with 23 seconds left in the period.

A delayed penalty already called, Mussoline sidestepped a defender and scooped a lefty shot into the back of the net to make it 9-5 with 10:50 remaining. Just over a minute later, Brown hit a hard-cutting Mussoline in stride, the senior finishing to cap the 7-0 burst.

The Fords netted three unanswered goals to cut the deficit to two, but were unable to break through in the final 5:25 as the Bears walked away with their fourth victory over a regionally ranked foe; Ursinus came in slotted 7^th in the South Region, while Haverford is 17^th.

Mussoline's hat-trick was his second in a row and fifth of the season. DeSimone had a goal and an assist, Desenberg scored twice, and Brown and Cioeta registered two assists apiece for Ursinus. Sophomore Pierre Atkinson netted his first career goal in the second quarter.

Neff's 18 saves, 11 of which came after halftime, were his highest total since a pair of 20-save performances as a freshman in 2013. O'Donoghue stood tall in front of Neff, racking up four caused turnovers and four ground balls in addition to his fifth goal. Senior G.B. Harkins had four ground balls and caused a turnover, while Jones finished with three grounders and one caused turnover of his own.

Hafner finished with four goals and an assist and Isaac Krier scored twice for Haverford, which held advantages in shots (40-27) and ground balls (33-31), won 12 of 21 faceoffs, and forced 19 Ursinus turnovers but fell victim to Neff's brilliance and the Bears' long run.

Ursinus will honor its 13-man senior class before taking on McDaniel in the regular-season finale on Saturday, April 30.