Collegeville, Pa. -   No. 18 Gettysburg College raced out to an 11-4 halftime lead in Saturday's Centennial Conference men's lacrosse regular-season finale at Ursinus College and never looked back on its way to a 16-12 victory.
 
The Bullets (11-6, 6-2 CC) clinched the second seed in next week's Centennial Conference playoffs and will host third-seeded Muhlenberg College in a semifinal matchup.
 
The Bears (8-7, 5-3 CC), who are receiving votes in the USILA Top-20 poll, will visit top-seeded and eighth-ranked Dickinson College in Wednesday's other semifinal.
 
The winners of Wednesday's semifinal contests will meet on Saturday in the championship game, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
 
Junior George Raymond (Darien, Conn./Suffield Academy), sophomore Quinton Mather (Avon, Conn./Avon Old Farm), senior Spencer Knife (Venice, Calif./Winston Churchill), and senior Griffin Gallagher (Ardmore, Pa./Shipley School) combined for 19 points to power Gettysburg's attack on Saturday. 
 
Raymond recorded a game-high six points on three goals and three assists while leading all players with seven groundballs, while Mather scored a career-high five goals. Knife also finished with five points on three goals and two assists, while Gallagher netted a hat trick in the win.
 
Junior Michael Zima (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and senior Connor Hume (Elkridge, Md./Loyola Blakesfield) also scored for the Bullets, while senior Kieran Ward (Malvern, Pa./Malvern Prep) chipped in with an assist.
 
Senior goalkeeper Scott MacMillan (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) made ten saves to earn his 11th win of the season.
 
Gettysburg scored the first five goals of Saturday's contest and held a 5-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
The two teams traded goals over the first eight minutes of the second stanza, with the Bears trimming their deficit to 7-4 at the 6:59 mark. However, the Bullets rattled off four markers in the final three minutes to take an 11-4 lead into the intermission.
 
Ursinus outscored Gettysburg 4-3 in the third period and netted the first goal of the fourth quarter to pull to within five, 14-9, with 10:01 remaining.
 
Neither team was able to find twine until Knife completed his hat trick with 2:35 remaining. The Bears tallied three times in 36 seconds while attempting a late comeback bid before Raymond closed out the scoring with 29 seconds left.
 
Freshmen Thomas Ciccarone (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) and Andy Marquet (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) tied for a game-high with four caused turnovers apiece, with Ciccarone scoping up six groundballs and Marquet collecting three groundballs.
 
Freshman Frank Barbera (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) contributed five groundballs and two caused turnovers, while junior Zack Kinsella (Annapolis, Md./Severn School) chipped in with five groundballs and one caused turnover.
 
Junior Jonathan Moshe (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Earl L Vandermeulen) led the Bullets at the face-off spot with 11 face-off wins to go along with four ground balls. 
 
Gettysburg held a commanding 59-32 advantage in shots for the game while also controlling the groundball department, 47-34. 
 
The Bullets committed just 12 turnovers on the afternoon while forcing Ursinus to give the ball away 22 times and went 19-for-21 on clears versus a 16-for-23 performance by the Bears.
 
Gettysburg went 1-for-6 on extra-man chances and was not flagged for any penalties in the victory. 
 
Ursinus held the edge draws during the game, winning 20 of the day's 32 face-offs.
 
Gettysburg opens its quest for its 11th Centennial Conference title with Wednesday's matchup against Muhlenberg. The Bullets edged the Mules at home in the regular-season meeting last Sunday, 5-3.
 
More information regarding game times and spectator policies will be made available on Monday, May 2.