Quick-Striking Bryant Dispatches Vermont
from press release
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- Sophomore Max Weisenberg
(Long Beach, N.Y.) scored a trio of goals, including a score just
12 seconds in, and added an assist to lead the Bryant University
men's lacrosse team to a 7-4 win over Vermont in the 2010 home
opener Saturday afternoon at the Bryant Turf Complex.
The Bulldogs (1-1) led the whole way through the contest and opened
up a 5-0 lead on the visiting Catamounts (0-1) five minutes into
the third quarter. But Vermont wasn't going to leave empty-handed,
staging a two-goal spurt in a span of just over five minutes to
enter the final frame trailing the home side, 5-2.
With their momentum swinging toward the visiting bench, the
Bulldogs got aggressive midway through the fourth, notching
back-to-back goals in less than a minute, the first coming from the
combination of Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) and rookie Ben
Sternberg (North Kingstown, R.I.), who earned the assist. It marked
the third tally of the young season for which the duo has
connected.
"It was a routine play by the two of them," said fourth-year head
coach Mike Pressler. "Ben made a smart play, gave him a good
pass."
Weisenberg scored his third and final - as well as the team's final
- goal 46 seconds later in unassisted fashion to move the score to
7-2 in Bryant's favor with 6:48 left to play.
"There's no secret here that Max Weisenberg is one of our lead
midfielders and has been since he got here," said Pressler. "His
three goals were a huge boost for us, especially that first one,
getting us on the board on the first 15 seconds."
And while the Catamounts would put up two more scores - both coming
with under two minutes to play and the second coming with just 16
seconds remaining - it would be too little too late for Vermont, as
the Bulldogs took their first win of the young season, 7-4.
"Overall it was a very very impressive day defensively for us, once
again," Pressler said. "Led by Matt Murnane with 11 ground balls,
our team defense made it easy for Jameson Love to make some saves,
and Jameson came up big on some others that he needed to. It was a
nice win for us overall, to get our first win in 2010 over a good
team at home."
Bryant ‘s hot start was inspired by the quick play of
Weisenberg, who got the home side on the board just 12 seconds into
Saturday's contest, picking up the ground ball after an Andrew
Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.) faceoff win and taking it straight
to goal, putting the ball in past Vermont goalie Alex Plavner.
Hennessey, impressive again from the faceoff X, would go 10-for-12
on the day.
Junior Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) would double the Bulldogs'
lead with 8:34 to go in the first session off a great feed from
Weisenberg, and a man-up goal from Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) -
the only tally of the second period - gave Bryant a 3-0 cushion
heading into the halftime break.
Out of the intermission, Bryant got the scoring going once more,
with junior John Truscello (Holbrook, N.Y.) taking a pass from
freshman Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) just 1:02 into the third
quarter to up the Bulldogs' advantage to 4-0. McMahon would end his
day with a pair of assists.
Weisenberg followed with the second of his three unassisted tallies
to get the home team out front, 5-0, with 10:27 to go in the
session.
"I'm disappointed we couldn't put that game away," said Pressler.
"We let them hang around a little bit, but we'll take it. A win's a
win. But the one thing we have to improve on is our scoring. Just
11 goals in two games isn't where we want to be offensively and
that has to change."
On the day, the Bulldogs outshot the Catamounts, 36-27, including
10-3 in the first quarter, and picked up 35 ground balls to
Vermont's 27. Senior defenseman Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre,
N.Y.) paced the contest twice with his game-high 11 ground balls
and game-best six caused turnovers on the afternoon, while Larson
took a game-high nine shots. Plavner posted 12 saves for Vermont
while Bryant sophomore netminder Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) made
nine stops and came up big on multiple occasions for the Black and
Gold.
The Bulldogs now set out on a four-game roadtrip spanning through
the middle of March and next take on a tough Army side Tuesday
(Feb. 23) afternoon at Michie Stadium (4 p.m.).
