ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - The No. 9 Ursinus College men's lacrosse team overcame a first-half deficit to come back and defeat Eastern, 12-10, on the road on Wednesday. In the win, Bobby McClure continued to break records and hit career milestones. After becoming the team's all-time leader in points, the senior broke the all-time goals record with his second of the game.
The Bears looked as if they may get out with a comfortable win on Wednesday after Hakan Atillasoy, Evan Scott, and Tyler Falco - who opened his collegiate account - scored the game's first three goals to go up 3-0. However, Eastern came back to score six of the next seven to take a 6-4 lead after the first quarter.
Ben Minardi brought Ursinus back within one and then Sam Mutz scored with a man-advantage off of a pass from McClure to tie the game at six. It was the first goal of the season for Mutz, who missed the first two games. Tommy Reinhart gave the Bears a 7-6 lead almost two minutes later.
Again, after the Bears went up, the Eagles responded and went on a run of their own. Eastern scored three straight goals – two of which came while playing with a man up – to take a two-goal, 9-7 lead over the No. 9 Bears. The Eagles seemed to be on their way to a two-goal halftime lead, but Atillasoy fed McClure who scored with 19 seconds remaining in the half to cut the deficit to one. It was not only a goal big for the Bears' momentum going into the second half, but the goal the 122nd of his career - also broke the program's all-time record.
Ursinus played much better defensively in the second half. The Bears controlled play and had the majority of the scoring chances in the third quarter, but had shots blocked, hit the crossbar, or saved. Finally, Alex Dean broke the scoreless run, scoring his third goal of the season to tie the game. Three minutes later Aaron Grill put Ursinus ahead 10-9. Eastern responded to tie the game with 1:51 remaining in the frame. It would be the Eagles' only goal in the second half.
Reinhart scored his second goal of the game, this time with only four seconds left in the quarter to put Ursinus up 11-10 and the Bears never looked back. Ursinus kept up the pressure on the offensive end and came up with big stops on defense. Chris Porzelt had a pair of saves in the fourth quarter and the Bears defense forced three turnovers. McClure added a goal for good measure with 4:41 remaining, giving the Bears a 12-10 lead. Ursinus would hang on to win its third straight game to start the season; the Bears are 3-0 for the second consecutive year after a 6-0 start to the 2019 campaign.
The Bears finished with 44 shots on the day and were led by McClure who tallied nine of those, netting three of them for a hat-trick.
While allowing six goals in the opening quarter, the Bears defense and Porzelt tightened up the rest of the way. Ursinus allowed just four goals in the final three quarters, including only one in the second half. Nolan Sachs and Falco each forced a pair of turnovers while Porzelt tallied seven saves.
Sachs became the sixth player in team history to eclipse 50 career caused turnovers.
The Bears are back at home on Saturday when they host No. 20 Christopher Newport.