COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Denison senior midfielder Rick Mackessy had two goals as the Big Red (3-1) defeated Ursinus (2-2) 7-4 Wednesday afternoon in non-conference men's lacrosse action.

The Big Red broke open a 3-3 tie with four straight goals starting with 18 seconds left in the first half.

The first goal in the run game from junior midfielder Dan Maude on an assist from Mackessy. Mackessy had three assists on the day.

In the start of the third quarter, freshman midfielder Tanner Smith scored at 13:50 unassisted for a 5-3 lead. The next Denison goal came with 2:07 left in the quarter as Mackessy scored on a Nazaruk assist.

The final goal in the run came with 5:48 left in the fourth as sophomore attack Brady Burton scored on a Mackessy assist for a 7-3 lead.

For Ursinus, the Bears got goals from senior midfielder Dane Mangin (Willow Grove, PA/Archbishop Wood), sophomore attack Eric Farris (Pottsgrove, PA/Pottsgrove), junior attack Brian Boorse (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) and freshman midfielder Tony Ubertaccio (Green Village, NY/Delbarton).

With the score in favor of the Big Red at 2-0, Ursinus got on the board with 6:56 left as Mangin scored unassisted. Ursinus tied the score at 2-2 with 3:52 left when Boorse scored on a Mangin assist.

After Denison took a 3-2 lead, Ursinus tied the score again at 3-all when Ubertaccio scored.

Farris scored with 1:18 left in the game, for Ursinus' last goal of the game.

The Bears outshot the Big Red 34-21. Denison senior goalkeeper Alex Baruch had 21 saves, while junior goalkeeper Tony Aquilino (Abington, PA/Archbishop Wood) had seven stops for the Bears.

Each team had 43 ground balls, with sophomore attack Derrin Mangin (Willow Grove, PA/Archbishop Wood) grabbing seven.

Ursinus also converted on 21-of-26 clear attempts.

The Bears will host Skidmore on Saturday at 1:00.

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Senior goalie Alex Baruch (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) posted a career-high 21 saves leading Denison to a 7-4 victory against Ursinus College on Wednesday in Collegeville, Pa.

Baruch, who was coming off a 14 save outing against second-ranked Gettysburg on Saturday, faced 34 shots and stopped 12 shots in the second half as the Big Red improved to 3-1.

Senior Rick Mackessy (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) set off a five-goal first quarter with the first of two goals on the day with 12:20 to play in the opening quarter. Junior attack Nate Hall (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) followed with a goal off a feed from Mackessy with 10:37 left.

After the early 2-0 lead for Denison, Ursinus would score two straight goals until senior Topher Nazaruk (Stratford, Conn./Fairfield Prep) finished in front of the cage for his fifth goal of the season. A goal by Ursinius' Tony Ubertaccio late in the second quarter would even the score at 3-3 but Denison's Dan Maude (Wayne, Pa./Haverford School) beat the halftime buzzer that would set up a three-goal denison run in the second half to lead DU to the win.

The Big Red was outshot 34-21 and the two teams tied with 43 ground balls. LJ Hackett (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) led DU with six ground balls. Mackessy scored two goals and added three assists to go along with four ground balls. Sophomore Conner Detjen (Winnetka, Ill./Loyola Academy) was 7-for-11 in face-offs and helped Denison win 10-of-15 face-off's on Wednesday.

Denison will take on top-ranked Salisbury on Sunday (March 16) in Salisbury, Md.

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Box Score

2008-03-12