Men's Lacrosse Loses Close 7-6 Game To Ursinus

(boxscore)

Widener had the ball with one minute left but the defense held tight to keep the Pride from scoring, resulting in a 7-6 loss in today's contest against Ursinus at Leslie C. Quick Stadium.

The first period was scoreless until Mark Stratton and Steve Smyrl each scored, giving the Bears a 2-0 lead with 2:03 left. Looking to close the margin in the score, Ryan Eidenshink (Elkins Park, PA) tallied for the Pride 36 seconds into the second period with Kyle Gratz (Worthington, OH) getting the assist.

Halfway through the second period, Johnny Casey (Glenside, PA) was fed the ball by fellow senior Charlie Bytheway (Glen Mills, PA) to even the score. Less than 30 seconds later, freshman Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, PA) gave Widener its only lead of the game with Gratz getting the assist. In the last three minutes before breaking for halftime, Ursinus netted two goals to take the lead. This included Ian Moore scoring with one tenth of a second remaining.

Before one minute expired in the second half, freshman Marc La Vine (Nashua, NH) fed Casey the ball for his second goal of the game to even the score, 4-4. Ursinus quickly turned around and scored a goal at 12:22 to take the lead once again.

Down two entering the fourth quarter, Taylor blasted one past goalkeeper Brian Neff to close the gap to 6-5. Logan Panaccione then tallied for the Bears for a 7-5 contest with 8:15 remaining.

With five minutes left, Eidenshink scored his second goal of the game, with freshman Ryan McDonald (Yardley, PA) getting the assist, to bring the score within 7-6. With one minute remaining, Bytheway caused a turnover that was picked up by teammate Andrew Vogel (Broomall, PA) and cleared for the chance to tie the game up. Ursinus put forth a tight defense and only allowed the Pride to take one shot--taken by Casey--with two seconds remaining, but it was high and time expired.

Casey, Eidenshink and Taylor each scored twice for the Pride, who owned a 38-27 shots edge. Gratz finished with two assists.

Widener hits the road next Wednesday to take on Immaculata, beginning at 4:00 pm.

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