RADNOR, Pa. – The lightning came late in the second half, but the Ursinus women's lacrosse team brought the thunder long before that in a 15-8 season-opening triumph at Cabrini on Wednesday afternoon, their highest scoring output in three years. Sophomore Taylor DeBernardi netted a career-high five goals, scoring on all of her shot attempts, and senior Devin Brakel and junior Lindsey Grabell tallied two goals and four assists each as the Bears turned in an impressive performance against the four-time defending CSAC champions on a rain-soaked afternoon in Radnor.
In a game delayed by lightning at the 10:44 mark of the second half, Ursinus (1-0) rained goals behind its prolific trio, which accounted for all but three tallies as the Bears avenged last season's 8-7 loss to Cabrini, which jumped out to an early lead before the visitors imposed their will.
Ursinus trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in the early going before taking control midway through the first half. DeBernardi's second strike keyed a run of four unanswered goals for the Bears, who pulled even on freshman Bridget Sherry's first collegiate tally and went ahead for good when sophomore Jules Krasutsky fed Brakel for a 4-3 lead at the 14:48 mark.
The Red and Gold closed the period on a 4-1 run fueled by a pair of goals from freshman Abby Goldstein, who opened her collegiate account with an unassisted marker at 5:43 and added another from Grabell to close the first-half scoring and send the Bears into the break with a 9-5 advantage.
After the Cavaliers scored the first goal of the second half, Brakel had a hand in the first three legs of a four-goal run that put the contest out of reach. In a span of exactly three minutes, she polished off a feed from Grabell and facilitated goals by Krasustsky and DeBernardi, whose fourth marker of the afternoon made it 12-6 with 18:32 to play.
Grabell's second strike, on an assist from junior Amy Kohout, stretched the lead to seven at the 17:08 mark. After Cabrini pulled one back, DeBernardi's final goal came just 11 seconds later, making it 14-7 with 10:57 remaining.
The Cavaliers controlled the ensuing draw, and then the lightning came, delaying the contest for 30 minutes as the teams waited out the storm. Following the stoppage, Goldstein finished off her hat-trick with 5:57 to play.
Katie Lasater paired three goals with two assists to lead the Cavaliers, while junior Jess Breuning and sophomore Sasha Wozniak chipped in two goals apiece. Ursinus put up 15 goals on junior Megan Barlow (eight saves), who ranked 19th in Division III in goals-against average last season.
Ursinus enjoyed a 34-19 advantage in shots and held leads of 25-20 in ground balls and 14-11 off the draw.
Senior Margaret Philbin recorded seven saves between the pipes before giving way to sophomore counterpart Meaghan Corbin for the final nine minutes and change. Junior Lisa Grous assisted the defensive efforts with five ground balls and two caused turnovers to complement three draw controls. Freshman Courtney Cortese controlled a team-high five draws in her debut.
DeBernardi's five goals were the most by a Bear since Jayme Verman matched that total on two occasions in 2014. Grabell and Brakel both notched career highs in points (6); Grabell recorded five points all of last season and came into Wednesday's game with a career total of eight. Goldstein, who found the back of the net on all three of her shots, became the first Ursinus player since Verman to register a hat-trick in her collegiate debut.
Sherry, an All-Centennial Conference defender on the Bears' Final Four field hockey squad, was impressive in her collegiate lacrosse debut, compiling four draw controls, four caused turnovers, and four ground balls in addition to a goal and an assist. The four caused turnovers were the most by a Bear since Elizabeth Chatburn matched that number against Cabrini in 2013.
Ursinus assisted on 11 of its 15 goals, its highest single-game assist total in at least six years.
The Bears stay on the road for a non-conference tussle with Albright on Saturday, February 27.