CORTLAND. N.Y. – The Ursinus College men's lacrosse team played mostly even with No. 7 Cortland on Friday night, but a flurry of goals by the host Red Dragons was too much to overcome in a 15-8 non-conference setback.
In addition to the high-powered hosts, the Bears had to contend with a number of snowy squalls that covered Cortland's turf field throughout the afternoon. After taking a lead less than a minute in, Ursinus (1-3) fell victim to a run of seven unanswered goals over the remainder of the period as the Red Dragons took control.
Sophomore Bobby McClure finished with three goals and two assists to lead Ursinus, and junior Peter DeSimone scored three second-half goals to move within three points of 100 for his career.
Ultimately, the Bears were unable to slow a Cortland attack that fired off 56 shots – 27 of them on frame – and were done in by 32 turnovers, including ten on clearing attempts.
McClure finished a feed from sophomore Reagan Ketchum just 55 seconds after the opening faceoff, but it was all Red Dragons from there. The home side rattled off seven goals in a row – two of them in the final minute of the frame – to leave Ursinus chasing the rest of the way.
McClure found the back of the net 19 seconds into the second quarter and again with only 13 ticks remaining before halftime, but the Red Dragons ripped off a 4-0 run in between to go into halftime with a comfortable 11-4 lead.
DeSimone tallied twice in the third quarter and once more with 2:58 to play to grab his 10th career hat trick.
Ketchum registered a goal and two assists for the Bears, who got 12 saves from junior Nick Kirk.
Junior Brian Casey finished 6-for-8 on faceoffs in his season debut, and freshman Rei Lopez won 5-of-8 in the circle in his first extended action.
The men's lacrosse team heads to Eastern for a non-conference contest on Wednesday, March 14.