COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Peter DeSimone and Bobby McClure continued their assault on the record books – and the opposing cage – and got plenty of help from the third member of the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team's three-headed monster as the Bears pulled away in the second half for a 16-7 victory over McDaniel.
DeSimone scored five goals to become the all-time leader in that category, McClure matched the program record with six goals and added two assists, and sophomore Hakan Atillasoy racked up four goals and an assist of his own for the 9th-ranked Bears (9-1, 3-1). The trio accounted for all but one of Ursinus' markers, with sophomore Joe Mercurio grabbing the other during a run of six unanswered goals in the third quarter.
McClure got the hosts off to a hot start, powering the opening goal into the back of the cage on a feed from sophomore Alex Dean before setting up DeSimone's first of the afternoon on an extra-man chance. Atillasoy made it 3-0 just past the midway point of the first quarter, and McClure responded to the Green Terror's ice-breaker with another tally – this one from junior Evan Scott – with 31 seconds left in the frame.
McDaniel (2-10, 0-4) came out firing in the second stanza, reeling off three in a row to pull even at 4-4 inside the first four minutes of the quarter. DeSimone got the Bears back on track with two straight goals, the second putting him above Dane Mangin on the school's all-time charts as the 11th of his career.
McClure netted a pair of his own in just over a minute, and Atillasoy deposited a man-up pass from Scott to make it 9-4 at the 3:09 mark of the quarter. The Green Terror grabbed one back before the break.
The teams traded goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter before Ursinus turned on the after-burners and pulled away for good with six goals in a row. Mercurio assisted on the first one, by Atillasoy, before scoring one for himself, and Atillasoy put up his fourth of the day to make it 13-6. DeSimone faked a pass to free himself for a long-range blast, and McClure equaled the single-game standard with his sixth of the day before finding DeSimone 21 seconds later as the Bears capped the period with a 16-6 advantage.
Senior Brian Casey (11-for-18, eight ground balls) and sophomore Rei Lopez (5-for-5, five ground balls) combined to go 14-for-23 on faceoffs and collect 13 of the Bears' 40 ground balls on the day, well clear of the Green Terror's 26. Ursinus held a 52-45 edge in shots, won 16 of 25 faceoffs, and committed 15 turnovers to 23 for McDaniel.
Ursinus' swarming defense caused McDaniel to commit eight turnovers on clears alone, more than half of them on 20-second violations.
The Bears came in with the worst extra-man offense in the Centennial, but converted on both of their man-up chances in this one.
Senior goalie Nick Kirk made 11 of his 15 saves in the first half, with McDaniel's Jakob Katzen registering 19.
The Bears have a week to prepare for a critical conference showdown at 16th-ranked Franklin & Marshall, set for 3 p.m. next Saturday.