COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The No. 13 Ursinus Field Hockey team was unable to overcome a two-goal deficit in the second half as they were defeated by Dickinson 2-1 in the Centennial Conference Tournament Semifinals on Friday evening at Snell Field.
With the loss, the Bears fall to 13-5 overall and will await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday night to see if they will continue further into NCAA play to see if they have earned an at-large. Meanwhile, the Red Devils improve to 9-9 overall and will advance to face No. 2 Johns Hopkins in the championship game tomorrow night.
Ursinus went on the attack early as they drew three penalty corners in the first 2:19 of the contest. The Bears were unable to capitalize on the early corners as they had just one shot turned away. The Bears had two more shots in the first quarter with one going wide before having the second one blocked. Ursinus had three more shots blocked to open the second quarter with two coming off penalty corner opportunities. The Red Devils cashed in their first goal in the 28th minute of the second quarter after an initial pass got past Bears junior goalkeeper Jordan Ulsh and was tipped in the left corner of the net by Bridget Fontaine.
The Red Devils extended their lead to 2-0 just four minutes into the third quarter after a second chance shot from Amanda Fruman beat Ulsh on the left side. Ursinus generated pressure in the Red Devils zone with six shots in the third quarter, but all of them were blocked. Junior Jordan Moore finally got the Bears on the board in the 54th minute after knocking in a centering pass from classmate Laura Rothschild, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Moore had a shot turned away in the 57th minute by the Red Devils goalkeeper and that would be the final shot the Bears would record on net.
Ursinus held a sizable 20-4 advantage in shots with three shots only going on net for the Bears. Additionally, the Bears held a 16-0 edge in penalty corners as well. Ulsh made two saves in the loss during the 57:56 she was in the net before being pulled for an extra attacker. Saige Stevens earned the win for Dickinson after making two saves in the full 60 minutes.
The NCAA Division III Field Hockey Selection Show will air on Sunday night at 11 p.m.