Bryant Wraps Up Winning Season
from press release
SMITHFIELD, R.I. - With a goal and an assist on
the evening, Bryant University men's lacrosse senior captain Bryan
Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) notched his 200th career point as
the Bulldogs secured their eighth victory of the year, 14-8 over
Presbyterian College Friday night at the Bryant Turf Complex,
guaranteeing their most sought-after team goal: a winning season in
their inaugural Division I campaign.
"I'm so thrilled we got this win and that's finally behind us,"
said Bryant head coach Mike Pressler. "We didn't do it in a pretty
fashion - it was not our best stuff to say the least - but we'll
certainly take it."
Graduate student and first-line attackman Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.)
led the Bulldogs (8-5) with five goals and a pair of assists, while
linemate Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) had a big day of his
own with a hat trick and two helpers. Bryant got goals from six
different scorers as Kaufmann's two points on the evening put him
among just two other four-year Bryant lacrosse alums with 200 or
more career points.
"I'm certainly happy that Bryan got his 200th point, but this was
certainly not his best effort," said Pressler.
And despite the win, at times, the play wasn't as pretty as Bryant
is used to.
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs sat back and watched as
Presbyterian (1-10) took a 2-0 edge on goals from Cory Stemshorn
and Andrew Athens, who would lead the Blue Hose with six of their
eight tallies on the night.
But with 4:45 to play in the opening frame, sophomore Matt Larson
(Cheshire, Conn.) sent a pass into the crease from the right side
for Greer, who nailed home a low one-timer to get the Bulldogs on
the board, 2-1.
Clay Patchen made the score 3-1 in the visitors' favor 44 seconds
later before a man-up goal by Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) and an
even-strength tally from Hoagland (from Greer) within a minute of
each other knotted the score at 3-3.
The Bulldogs didn't see their first lead of the night until the
13:57 mark of the first session, when Bryant Amitrano (Valley
Stream, N.Y.) bounced in a goal from the right side with 63 ticks
left on the clock.
Back-to-back unassisted goals by Athens gave the Blue Hose back the
one-goal advantage, 5-4, less than six minutes into the second
quarter, but a soft and low finesse shot from Crowley saw the home
side get even again at 5-5.
Hoagland netted his second of the night 1:29 later to finish off
all first-half scoring just seconds after a Presbyterian penalty
released to take a 6-5 edge into the locker room at the half.
"We hoped we would get a lead, but it's 6-5 at half - this is
anybody's game," Pressler said. "We were in a battle and we knew
it. Presbyterian played hard, but we certainly helped them I
think.
"We need to understand that we have to, regardless of our opponent,
be mature enough to go out there and have the goods to play well,
and I didn't think we had that from the first whistle to the last
today," he continued. "And give Presbyterian credit. They played
well in the first half for sure, but we weren't as prepared as I
hoped we would be for game No 13. After a 10-day layoff, I just
thought we would be more ready to go and obviously that wasn't the
case."
And in the locker room between halves, the tone was quite different
than ever before.
"I left it up to them," Pressler explained. "We talked about the
first five minutes of the third quarter, I said very little and
walked out the door and put it on them to respond.
"I think that was the brightest part of the day," he added. "We
came out in the third, outscored them, 6-0, established momentum
and put the game away. That was the bright spot, that when we
needed it the most, we delivered."
The second-period goals from Crowley and Hoagland jumpstarted an
uninterrupted, eight-goal run for Bulldogs, who dominated the third
session, outshooting Presbyterian, 16-3, and holding the visiting
Blue Hose scoreless for more than 24 minutes from the middle of the
second through the start of the fourth.
Tallies by Greer bookended Hoagland's third goal of the night, all
three goals coming in a 1:23 span to open the third quarter, as
Greer would score a trio of third-period goals to put his team up,
10-5, with 8:54 to play in the frame.
Jim Long (Durham, N.H.) made it 11-5 in favor of the home team,
slicing through the midfield and netting a shot from the left side
minutes before Matt Tyburski (Mendham, N.J.) scored his first goal
of the season after receiving a Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.)
pass at the far post with 5:28 to play to end Bryant's scoring run
with a 12-5 lead.
"Max continues to develop into a quality Division I midfielder,"
said Pressler. "He makes all the little plays. He was ferocious on
the ground balls, he didn't shoot that well today, but that
certainly wasn't for a lack of effort. Max is becoming, in his
first year here, a marquee Division I midfielder."
Athens would cut the score to 12-6 just 17 seconds into the final
frame on a man-up opportunity - the Blue Hose would go 3-for-8 on
EMOs on the day - after Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) took
an unnecessary roughness penalty to end the third, before Greer and
Long hooked up for Greer's final goal of the evening with 7:21 to
play.
Kaufmann scored his only goal of the game - also his 200th career
point - with 5:30 left on the clock to give the Bulldogs a 14-6
advantage. But the Bulldogs would spend much of the final frame in
the penalty box, particularly in the final minute, and Athens took
advantage of it, cutting the score to 14-8 on back-to-back man-up
goals in the final 36 seconds.
But despite the victory, all-in-all the Bulldog coach was less than
pleased with his side's effort.
On the day, the Bulldogs outshot the Blue Hose, 59-23, putting
shots on net, 29-15. Turnovers continued to plague the Bulldogs, as
they did to Presbyterian, who committed 29 miscues to Bryant's 21.
The home team dominated the ground game, picking up 50 ground balls
to PC's 22, while failing only three of 22 clear opportunities.
The nation's top faceoff specialist in junior Andrew Hennessey
(Wading River, N.Y.) struggled in the first half, regaining his
typical dominance in the final 30 minutes to win 18-of-24 faceoffs,
including going 4-for-4 in the final frame.
"I just thought at the attack end we didn't do a good job of
putting the ball in the cage," he said. "We missed the cage 30
times. There were too many opportunities that we couldn't get
there, and that's a result of not getting to the front of the cage.
But that's something I believe we can certainly fix, too."
The Bulldogs have off until next Saturday, April 18, when they host
Bellarmine in a 1 p.m. matchup at Bulldog Stadium.
