ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Balanced offense and another timely stretch of lock-down defense has the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team back in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
The 18th-ranked Bears got goals from seven different players and held Muhlenberg to just one goal over a span of 27-plus minutes bridging halftime and the end of the third quarter, creating enough separation to post a 9-5 victory and clinch a return trip to the postseason. Senior Steve Mussoline potted a hat-trick for Ursinus (11-2, 5-1), which locked up back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in school history and defeated the Mules for the sixth straight season.
Muhlenberg (3-12, 0-7), despite coming in winless in league play, hung around into the fourth quarter on its home field. The Mules traded punches with the Bears for the first 15 minutes and change, gaining level ground at 3-apiece after Niko Del Moro's man-up goal 18 seconds into the second stanza.
But sophomore Gerard Brown found freshman Peter DeSimone for a man-up marker of his own three minutes later, igniting a 3-0 stretch to close the half. Freshman Sam Isola upped the lead to 5-3 two minutes later, and Mussoline's second of the day – on a feed from senior Mike Durst – gave the Bears a 6-3 lead at the break.
Ryan Malloy opened the third-quarter scoring for Muhlenberg, but sophomore Ian Desenberg finished a dish from Isola and senior Conor Fitzgerald netted an unassisted insurance tally to put Ursinus ahead 8-4 with 2:04 remaining in the frame. Mussoline completed his fourth hat-trick of the season with 9:07 to play.
Ursinus outshot the Mules, 39-23, and held a 28-26 edge in ground balls. Senior James Fairchild picked up a quarter of those grounders, finishing 12-for-17 on the faceoff. Senior Patrick O'Donoghue registered four ground balls and a caused turnover in front of senior Brian Neff, who posted seven saves in the cage.
Desenberg, Durst, and Isola had a goal and an assist apiece for the Bears, while Brown made history with his lone helper of the afternoon. It marked his 29th of the year, tying him with Anthony Tori for the most in single-season program history.
Five different players scored for Muhlenberg, which got 11 saves from Kyle Larkin between the pipes.
Ursinus converted its lone extra-man opportunity and forced 14 Mule turnovers, five of them on clearing attempts.
At 5-1, the Bears are tied with Franklin & Marshall, but have the inside track to the No. 2 seed in the upcoming championship tournament thanks to a 15-5 win in Lancaster on March 30. Ursinus continues its quest with a trip to Haverford on Wednesday, April 27.