SWARTHMORE, Pa. (Feb. 25, 2017) – The Widener University men's lacrosse team had a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt fall just short in a 15-13 setback at Swarthmore on Saturday afternoon at Clothier Field.

Widener, which trailed 14-8 through three quarters, stormed back in the fourth and seized the momentum with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Shortly after junior John Ferguson (Springfield, Pa.) found freshman Paz Gismondi (West Deptford, N.J.) for a marker to slice the margin down to five, three non-releasable penalties were issued on the same play which resulted in the Pride earning a man-up opportunity with 10:28 left. The Pride capitalized when junior Chris Drake (Middletown, N.J.) finished a Gismondi pass for his fourth goal of the game just 16 seconds into the rare situation, and senior Tyler Schulte (Southampton, N.J.) added two more markers just 11 seconds apart to slash the lead down to a pair of goals at 14-12 with 7:43 on the clock.
 
The Garnet, however, were able to hold off the furious rally attempt by the Pride when Jake Ross buried a pass from Cam Marsh with just over four minutes remaining in regulation. Widener answered back with Schulte finding the back of the net for the fifth time and had additional opportunities to at least potentially force overtime for the second straight meeting between the schools, but shot attempts by Gismondi, sophomore Brady Franks (State College, Pa.) and Chris Sanchez (Flanders, N.J.) were unsuccessful. Swarthmore regained possession and cleared the ball away into its offensive third to hang on for its second straight win to open the season.
 
The teams traded goals to start the game before the Garnet would establish control by embarking on a 5-1 run to close out the first quarter. Widener started the second frame strong by winning the faceoffs and netting two straight goals, but Swarthmore rattled off four straight to build up a six-goal lead. The hosts carried a comfortable 11-6 advantage into the recess and would eventually escape with the victory.
 
Cole Fox made 10 saves to pick up the win between the pipes for Swarthmore (2-0), which won 21 of 31 faceoffs and had a 41-37 edge in total shots as well as a 39-32 advantage in ground balls. Stephen Ducey won 18 of his 23 faceoff attempts and picked up seven ground balls, while Marsh led the offense with seven points on three goals and four assists.
 
Widener (1-1) was paced by Drake, who had a career afternoon by registering four goals and three assists for seven points. Schulte totaled five goals, matching a career high, and Shane Cook (Lincoln, Pa.) finished the game with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sophomore Matt Horton (Emmaus, Pa.) turned away 11 shots in the cage.
 
The Pride will next travel to face Mary Washington on Saturday, March 4 at 1:00 p.m.