ALLENTOWN, Pa. – In danger of falling victim to a surprising upset, the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team kept its Centennial Conference playoff hopes alive with a run of ten unanswered goals to overturn a four-goal second-half deficit and charge past Muhlenberg, 16-10, on Wednesday evening.
Junior Ian Desenberg (four goals, one assist) and sophomore Peter DeSimone (three goals, one assist) combined for seven goals, while junior Gerard Brown (one goal, four assists) and freshman Bobby McClure (one goal, three assists) teamed up to hand out seven assists to lead the Bears (9-4, 4-3) to their seventh consecutive victory over the Mules. This one was crucial – and came with some anxious moments.
Despite a winless league record, Muhlenberg (2-11, 0-7) jumped out to a 4-1 lead, took an 8-5 advantage into halftime, and stretched it to 9-5 early in the third quarter before Desenberg rattled off two goals in 15 seconds and turned the game on its head. Eight more markers later, the Bears could exhale.
With the win, Ursinus retained its hold on the fourth and final CC playoff spot. The Bears are tied with Swarthmore, an overtime winner over Washington College on Wednesday, but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Garnet heading into the last day of the regular season. Ursinus clinches a playoff berth with a victory over Dickinson on Saturday, while a loss would knock them out of contention.
Desenberg's quick spurt, both ends of which were facilitated by McClure, triggered the game-turning 10-0 rally. Brown then got in on the act, setting up freshman Reagan Ketchum before depositing an unassisted tally of his own to level the contest at 9-apiece. DeSimone's score put Ursinus ahead to stay with 6:27 remaining in the third quarter.
Looking for some breathing room, the Bears got it in the form of a 5-0 blitz keyed by Brown. The junior assisted on the first three goals of the fourth, two of them by junior Lou Harrison and the other from Desenberg, before freshman Evan Scott ripped the back of the net in transition for his first career goal. Sophomore Tim Miller capped the run and gave the visitors a 15-9 lead with his first marker since March 4, just 23 seconds after Scott's at the 6:47 mark.
The Mules stopped the bleeding with exactly 6 minutes to play, but senior Zach Jones picked up his first career point on an assist to classmate Matthew Cioeta to polish off the come-from-behind triumph.
Brad D'Alessandro finished with two goals and two assists for Muhlenberg, which led by three at the break thanks to tallies by Niko Del Moro and Frankie Feaster in the final 17 seconds of the first half. D'Alessandro tallied twice in the first, when the Mules raced out to a 4-1 lead. Goals by Desenberg and McClure cut the deficit to 6-5, but the home team's last-second surge left the Bears chasing into the second half.
Sophomores Nick Kirk and Brian Casey played vital roles in the Bears' resurgence. Casey finished 11-for-16 at the face-off X, helping Ursinus win 12 of 15 in the second half, while Kirk stopped six shots and allowed only two goals between the pipes after coming in for the second stanza.
Ursinus held slight edges in shots (42-41), ground balls (32-31), and face-off wins (17-13). Cioeta picked up four ground balls, with Casey and senior Justin Risser nabbing three each; Risser won five of ten face-offs.
With five more points, Brown took over sole possession of sixth on the program's all-time list with 121.
Ursinus will honor its 10 seniors before hosting No. 13 Dickinson on Saturday. Opening face-off is set for 3 p.m.