CARLISLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's lacrosse team gave a game effort, but fell victim to the fireworks of Dickinson's Caroline Clancy, who scored six second-half goals to push the host Red Devils to a 13-8 Centennial Conference victory on Saturday.
Ursinus (5-4, 1-1) led 2-0 within the game's first four-plus minutes after senior Devin Brakel set up freshman Bridget Sherry for a goal before potting one of her own. But Dickinson (5-3, 2-0), fresh off a win at No. 14 Messiah, equalized with two of its own and the teams traded tallies until going into halftime deadlocked at four.
The stalemate continued in the early portion of the second half, freshmen Courtney Cortese and Kaci McNeave matching goals by Clancy and Jennifer Morrissey to forge a 6-all tie. McNeave gave the Bears the lead back with an unassisted strike at 23:16, but the Red Devils left the visitors behind with a five-goal run. Clancy recorded the first three – separated by just twenty seconds – and Anne Dunster closed the surge with a goal that made it 11-7 with 12:23 to play.
Cortese stopped the bleeding at the 7:42 mark, but Clancy responded just eight seconds later and tacked on another to provide the final margin.
Clancy came in to Saturday's game with just three goals on the season, but doubled that total in her second-half barrage. Maddy Seibold posted two goals and two assists, and Tara Cuddihy collected seven saves in net.
Brakel paced Ursinus with three points on a goal and two assists, with Cortese and McNeave tallying two goals each and Sherry and junior Amy Kohout both providing a goal and an assist.
Senior Margaret Philbin finished with 12 saves, doing her best to withstand a 36-16 shot advantage for Dickinson, while junior Lisa Grous registered four draw controls, three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers to spark the defensive effort.
The Red Devils outperformed the Bears in draws (14-8) and ground balls (16-9) and forced 20 Ursinus turnovers.
Ursinus continues Centennial Conference play at Washington College on Wednesday, April 6.