COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Messiah sophomore midfielder J.J. Miller scored his third goal of the game with 28 seconds left in the fourth as the Falcons (1-0) eeked out an 8-7 win over Ursinus (0-1) Friday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.

Miller's goal was part of a three-goal quarter for Messiah, who trailed 6-5 heading into the final 15 minutes.

Junior midfielder Nate Windon also had three goals in the win for the Falcons.

For Ursinus, junior attack Eric Farris and sophomore midfielder Pat Gillen each had two goals for the Bears who fired off 52 shots in the loss.

Ursinus found itself in a 3-0 hole after one quarter of play as senior attack Jeff Ziegler scored just 24 seconds in for a 1-0 lead. Windon then scored his first goal of the game on an assist from sophomore midfielder Pete Owens. Owens had two assists on the day.

Miller netted his first goal with 11:35 left, on another assist from Owens.

Ursinus then rallied off four straight goals. Gillen scored back-to-back goals starting with 13:31 left in the second quarter on an assist from junior midfielder Tom Walsh. Gillen's second goal came at 9:53 when he scored on an assist from freshman midfielder Jeff Ocampo.

Farris tied the score at 3-all with 8:35 left on an assist from freshman attack Andrew Bean.

Following a 3-3 halftime tie, the Bears took a 4-3 lead just 41 seconds in as senior attack Jason Orlando scored on an assist from Ocampo. Messiah then scored two straight goals as Miller scored with 13:24 left on an assist from freshman attack James Baden, then Windon scored goal number two at 10:14 on an assist from Ziegler.

Ursinus added two more goals before the end of the quarter, as junior attack Pat Nagle scored with 5:28 left unassisted, then junior long stick midfielder Derrin Mangin scored unassisted with 1:42 left in quarter three for a 6-5 lead.

Windon's goal with 7:21 left in the fourth tied the score again at 6-all, followed by a goal from Ziegler at 4:25 left in the quarter for a 7-6 Falcons lead. The Falcons scored four extra-man goals.

Farris' second goal, on an assist from Orlando, at 3:06 tied the score at 7-7.

Despite the loss, the defensive unit forced 28 Falcon turnovers and had 42 ground balls. Mangin had six groundballs for Ursinus, with sophomore defender Tom Adeleberger along with Farris, Gillen and Ocampo adding in four. Miller had a game-high eight ground balls for Messiah.

In goal, senior goalkeeper Tony Aquilino had 17 saves, with Falcon goalkeeper senior Greg Latimer having 20.

Ursinus will travel to Drew on Wednesday.

2009-02-27