COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Eight senior Ursinus College men's soccer players took the pitch for the last time as the Bears were clipped, 2-0, by two-second half Gettysburg goals at a wet Patterson Field on Saturday
The senior class of Daan Slaats, Derek Rudy, Alex Sanger, John Romero, Brandon Lillian, Tim Yarosh, Justin Molyneaux and Ben Amaral were honored for their dedicated service to athletics, academics and extracurricular activities before the match.
Ursinus (0-13-3, 0-9) looked strong in the first half with a senior-laden starting lineup. The Bears controlled a majority of the possession and held the upper hand in shots (7-4) in the first session.
It was Gettysburg (8-7-1, 5-4), in the midst of a Centennial Conference playoff battle for the fifth seed, which was able to break the scoreless deadlock with two goals in the second half - one in the first minute and another in the last. The Bullets held the shot advantage in the second half, 5-2. Less than a minute into the second stanza, an Ursinus foul in box led to a penalty kick opportunity. Ezekiel Omosanya sent the spot kick into the left corner to give the Bullets the 1-0 lead.
As the game grew more intense to the later stages, the play became increasingly aggressive and physical. The Bears were trying to generate more offense as Lillian was out of goal, helping to build up an attack. With 45 seconds remaining, Gettysburg's Oladayo Thomas received a pass from Matthew McCann. Thomas was on a breakaway down the left side of the field and Lillian, in a full sprint, did everything he could do to back track into net but Thomas snuck a shot just past his outstretched arms.
The Bears' best chance to score in the second half came in the 65th minute after a corner kick which led to a two blasts getting blocked by the defense before junior Colin Klingman ripped one just wide.
Early in the first half, Ursinus had a couple close scoring chances, one of them in the 15th minute when senior Amaral found sophomore Alexis Ayala on the counter. Ayala's left-footed boot sailed just high.
In the 19th minute, a Bear free kick fell to Amaral in the box. Amaral turned and shot a low strike that bounded inches left of the post.
Gettysburg goalie Dillon Konzelmann posted the shutout with three saves.
In his 30th career start, Lillian made three saves and led the CC in saves for the season.