COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Despair turned to hope, and hope gave way to heartbreak in a matter of minutes for the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team, who sent its Centennial Conference clash with No. 13 Dickinson into overtime with a last-gasp goal only for its playoff hopes to be dashed when the Red Devils scored just over a minute into overtime to steal a 10-9 thriller on Saturday.
Sophomore Peter DeSimone scored four goals for Ursinus (9-5, 4-4), including the game-tying strike with just 6.5 seconds remaining after a wild sequence of events gave the home team a final chance. But the Bears turned it over on the opening possession of overtime and Dickinson (12-3, 6-2) made them pay with a transition goal that kept Ursinus out of the postseason for the first time in three years.
Saturday marked Ursinus' second straight overtime home loss, following last week's 9-8 setback at the hands of Haverford.
Senior Day and do-or-die stakes coalesced into a charged-up atmosphere at Patterson Field, and the Bears rode the wave to an early 2-0 lead after goals by junior Ian Desenberg and DeSimone, who ripped a low-to-high shot into the top corner of the net just past the midway point of the first frame.
Dickinson responded with four straight goals to close the period – two of them by Tucker Carney, and two coming in the final minute of the stanza.
Junior Lou Harrison's bull move toward the crease resulted in a one-goal deficit for Ursinus early in the second quarter of a game that featured a bevy of shots but little to show for it. DeSimone deposited a feed from junior Gerard Brown to tie the contest with 57.5 ticks left in the half, which appeared to send the teams into halftime tied before Connor Murphy scored on a long-range effort at the buzzer to lift the Red Devils back out in front.
The evenly matched squads traded two goals each in the third quarter, but the tug-of-war tilted in the Bears' favor early in the fourth. Another low-to-high blast from DeSimone tied it at 7, and freshman Reagan Ketchum's shot from distance was true to hand Ursinus its first lead since the first quarter with 8:13 to go.
The Red Devils responded with goals by Carney and Dylan Maher, the latter coming with 2:32 to play, and won the ensuing faceoff. Two quick changes of possession ended in a shot by the Red Devils, and the Bears were awarded possession after giving chase on the boundary. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave Ursinus an extra man, and the Bears capitalized, as McClure found DeSimone on the left wing for an equalizer that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
Ursinus had the first crack at a golden goal after sophomore Brian Casey won the overtime faceoff, but Andy Grabis picked up an errant pass and fed ahead to Maher, who scored on the break to bring the Bears' season to a heartbreaking end.
Carney had a hat trick to lead the Red Devils, who will go to Gettysburg for a CC semifinal clash. Andrew Jones made 14 saves – 11 in the first half and half of them in the second quarter – to keep the Bears' relentless attack in check.
Ursinus held a 52-46 advantage in shots, with each team splitting 18 face-offs evenly and Dickinson grabbing more ground balls (27-21). The Bears were 3-for-7 on the extra-man but just 13-of-20 on clears.
Ketchum scored twice for the Bears, and Brown handed out two assists in addition to a goal to move into fifth place all-time in points (124). Freshman Bobby McClure had two assists to give himself 46 points, the second-highest total ever by an Ursinus rookie.
Jones caused two turnovers and Cioeta added two ground balls in their final collegiate contest. Sophomore Nick Kirk racked up 11 saves, five of them in the third quarter.
DeSimone finished with 38 goals, one shy of the single-season school record.
