SWARTHMORE, Pa. – A run of six unanswered goals bridging halftime had Ursinus in prime position to post its first Centennial Conference victory of the season, but host Swarthmore scored with two seconds left in the third and netted all four goals of the fourth to steal a 12-10 shootout.
Sophomore Bobby McClure put up four goals for Ursinus (1-8, 0-3), including two during a stretch of four in less than two minutes as the visitors surged to a 9-5 lead midway through the third quarter. Senior Ian Desenberg's tally with 7 seconds left in the first half kick-started the spurt, which was facilitated by a non-releasable penalty on the Garnet; McClure's marker made it 7-5 before freshman Aiden Baltz score off his own faceoff win, and freshman Hakan Atillasoy stretched the spread to four at the 7:33 mark of the period.
The Bears still led 10-7 on McClure's fourth goal late in the frame, but Zander Levitz found the back of the net with just two ticks showing on the clock and Swarthmore (6-6, 2-1) won the fourth quarter, 4-0, to grab its first conference win. Mason Evarts provided the go-ahead goal with 3:23 to go and Cam Marsh tacked on an insurance tally at the 1:45 mark.
Marsh and Levitz each produced three goals and an assist to lead the way for Swarthmore, a playoff qualifier a year ago.
Atillasoy posted two goals for the Bears, who scored four man-up goals to match their entire season total coming into the contest. Desenberg and sophomore Joe Donnelly each had a goal and an assist, while senior Gerard Brown and junior Peter DeSimone registered two helpers apiece.
Sophomore Nolan Sachs caused three turnovers and dished out his first career assist, while senior Connor Ream recorded two caused turnovers of his own. Junior Elliott Shevitz finished with nine saves, including five in the first quarter.
Donnelly opened the scoring with just 1:43 remaining in the first quarter, and Cam Marsh equalized to send the teams into the second stanza knotted at 1. McClure's marker on a feed from sophomore Nolan Sachs gave Ursinus a 2-1 lead, but the Garnet scored three in a row to grab a 4-2 advantage.
Senior Lou Harrison's man-up strike made it 4-3 before the teams traded late second-quarter goals.
Baltz finished 11-for-21 on faceoffs for Ursinus, which lost the battle on the draw for the first time this season as the Garnet posted a 13-11 advantage. The Bears held a slim 39-36 edge in shots and turnovers (11 to Swarthmore's 12), while ground balls were even at 18.
With two more points, Brown moved past Jake Weber '15 and into fourth place on the all-time program list with 138.
The Bears, who have lost three CC games by a combined four goals, go for their first league win at McDaniel next Friday night.