Bryant Battles Past Presbyterian
from press release
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Juniors John Truscello
(Holbrook, N.Y.) and Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) and senior
captain Bryant Amitrano (Valley Stream, N.Y.) chipped in two goals
apiece to lead the Bryant University men’s lacrosse team to a
9-5 win over host Presbyterian College Saturday afternoon in
Clinton, S.C.
The Bulldogs (4-2) never trailed in a game that featured just one
tie, and the Black and Gold outshot the Blue Hose (1-4), 41-22, on
the day. Rookie JK Poirier (Coatesville, Pa.) led Bryant with three
points off a goal and two assists.
Amitrano got the scoring started for the visiting Bulldogs at the
8:09 mark of the first frame with an unassisted goal, a play he
would repeat less than two minutes later to put the visitors up,
2-1. Goals from Truscello and Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.),
divided by a tally from Presbyterian’s James Cupo, drove the
score to 4-2 in Bryant’s favor before the closing of the
first session.
Bryant would do all the scoring in the second quarter, recording
four goals – bookended by Larson scores – to gain an
8-2 advantage entering the halftime break. Poirier and Truscello
would also record scores in the stanza.
But in the final 30 minutes of play, it was the Blue Hose who did
most of the scoring, collecting three of the four goals in the
third and fourth periods. Still, it wouldn’t be enough to
catch up with the Bulldogs.
Tyler Melnyk got second-half scoring going with 9:41 to play in the
third, taking a feed from Andrew Athens and putting it home past
Bryant sophomore netminder Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.). Love would
make seven saves on the day.
Sophomore Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) got the goal back for
the Bulldogs 1:02 later off a feed from Poirier to make the score
9-3 in Bryant’s favor. But Melnyk closed the gap to
five with less than two minutes to play in the frame, making the
score 9-4 entering the final 15 minutes.
Sean Mulford scored the only tally of the closing session, the
unassisted goal coming with just one minute left on the clock for
the 9-5 final.
Bryant was led by 11 shots from Crowley while junior Evan Roberts
(West Cornwall, Vt.) picked up six ground balls and went 7-for-17
on faceoffs on the day. Senior defenseman Matt Murnane (Rockville
Centre, N.Y.) scooped up four ground balls and forced a game-high
five turnovers on the win.
The Bulldogs were nearly perfect on clears, completing 27-of-28
attempts, and turned the ball over 18 times to Presbyterian’s
25.
