RADNOR, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, bowing 14-9 to Cabrini in a clash of nationally ranked programs.
Freshman Bobby McClure posted two goals and two assists and junior Gerard Brown achieved his 100th career point, but the 12th-ranked Bears (5-1) fell behind in the closing seconds of the first half and never got over the hump. Sophomore Elliott Shevitz racked up a career-high 16 saves against an onslaught from No. 15 Cabrini (4-2), which got four goals from Timmy Brooks and overwhelmed Ursinus with a 47-30 advantage in shots.
Evan Downey and Jake Klein added two goals and two assists apiece for the Cavaliers, who also got multiple goals from Ryan Hannan and Jordan Krug.
With a first-quarter assist, Brown became the ninth player in program history to reach the 100-point mark for his career. Junior Lou Harrison (two goals, one assist) and sophomore Peter DeSimone matched McClure with two goals, with junior Ian Desenberg adding a goal and an assist.
After Mike Gerzabek opened the scoring a minute and a half into the contest, the Bears began to impose their will with a three-goal run over the remainder of the first period. Harrison leveled the score two minutes later on a feed from McClure, and Desenberg set up DeSimone's go-ahead strike before Brown recorded his milestone point with an assist to senior Conor Fitzgerald.
The Cavaliers responded with a three-goal spurt of their own to regain the lead, but another McClure-to-Harrison connection brought Ursinus to a 4-4 deadlock at 3:34 mark of the second. But Brooks found the back of the net with just seven seconds remaining to give Cabrini a 5-4 edge at the break, part of a runoff four unanswered markers that gave the Blue and White the lead to stay.
Jordan Krug tallied just 33 seconds into the third, and Brooks followed a goal by Jake Klein with another of his own to stretch the Cabrini lead to 8-4 with 11:32 remaining in the frame. Undeterred, the Bears roared back in it, getting consecutive goals from Desenberg, DeSimone, and McClure to pull within 8-7 at 5:51 to play in the quarter.
Brooks struck again, stopping the Bears' momentum just over a minute later, and Zack Gregory added on to expand the lead to 10-7. A freshman-to-freshman hookup from Evan Scott to Nolan Sachs gave Scott his first career point and Ursinus an important score, but Klein's marker with 50 seconds left in the frame restored a three-goal upper hand for the Cavaliers.
Trailing 11-8 entering the fourth quarter, McClure pulled the Bears within two at the 11:16 mark with his second of the day. Evan Downey righted the ship for Cabrini, sandwiching two of his own goals around an assist on Ryan Hannan's strike as the hosts went up 14-9 with 1:38 to play and effectively squelched Ursinus' hopes.
Sachs led the defense in front of Shevitz with three caused turnovers in addition to his second goal of the season; he tied for the team lead in ground balls (four) with sophomores Brian Casey, who was 12 for 25 on faceoffs, and Michael Fraser.
Shevitz was brilliant in the first quarter, making nine of his 16 saves to keep the Bears in front.
Downey had seven ground balls and two caused turnovers for Cabrini, which forced 14 Ursinus miscues to just nine of its own. Matt Nestler collected nine saves between the pipes.
The Bears have a week to prepare for another road test against a ranked team, the Centennial Conference opener at No. 14 Gettysburg on Saturday, March 25.