Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – In a match-up of the top-two teams in the Centennial Conference (CC), third-ranked Gettysburg pulled away late in the second half to come away with a 9-7 victory at 15th-ranked Ursinus College Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bullets (12-0, 5-0 CC) continued their best start in program history and now stand alone atop the conference standings, as the two sides entered the day tied for first at 4-0.
 
Freshman goalie Tim Brady (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) made seven saves while junior defenseman Geoff Davis (Jefferson, Md./McDonogh School) picked up five ground balls in a defensive-minded game in which the Bullets held a slim 27-26 shot advantage. It was the 11th time this season that Gettysburg held an opponent to a single-digit goal total, including all four of its ranked opponents.
 
Offensively, the Bullets received a balanced effort. Senior Jimmy Morris (Waccabuc, N.Y./John Jay) posted two goals and one assist while senior Robby Maddux (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's), senior Brendan Morris (Waccabuc, N.Y./John Jay), and junior Paul Werner (Westfield, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) all added two goals apiece. Senior Bijan Firouzan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) added two assists.
 
Ian Moore scored three goals to lead Ursinus (9-2, 4-1 CC) while Steve Mussoline dished out four assists. James Fairchild won 15-of-19 face-offs for the Bears while Brian Neff made nine saves.
 
The two sides battled to a 3-3 tie in the first quarter. Ursinus struck for the first two goals taking a 2-0 lead with 11:14 on the clock after scoring 37 seconds apart.
 
Gettysburg bounced back with two goals of its own. Werner put Gettysburg on the scoreboard with 9:51 left in the opening quarter before Maddux tied it off a Firouzan assist seven minutes later.
 
The Bears went back on top when Logan Panaccione scored with 32 ticks showing, but the Bullets pulled even with five seconds on the clock on a goal from senior defensive midfielder Jack Harvazinski (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville).
 
Maddux scored 1:12 into the second quarter, making it 4-3, and Gettysburg would not trail the rest of the way. Moore tied it for the Bears with 8:35 to go, but the Bullets scored the final two goals of the half. Jimmy Morris assisted Werner with 6:37 left, then scored 35 seconds later to make it 6-4 in favor of the Bullets at the intermission.
 
Ursinus drew to within a goal when Mark Stratton scored with 9:37 remaining in the third quarter. But that's when the Bullets used a 3-0 run that stretched nearly 14 minutes of the third and fourth quarters to pull away.
 
Brendan Morris kicked off the spurt, scoring the team's first two goals during the stretch, including a man-up goal with 1:50 left in the third quarter to make it 7-5. He then struck off a feed from sophomore Reed Barbe (Greenwich, Conn./Suffield Academy) with 11:58 remaining in the game to nudge his team's lead to three.
 
Neither team would score again until Jimmy Morris converted a pass from Firouzan with 3:27 to go, giving the Bullets a commanding 9-5 advantage. Ursinus scored twice in the last 1:43 to set the final score.
 
Gettysburg continues its season next Saturday, when it hosts McDaniel College at 5 p.m.