Saturday, March 27, 2010

No. 17/17 SEAWOLVES SQUEAK PAST BULLDOGS, 8-7, SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Bryant scores four goals in final four minutes but can't get equalizer against Stony Brook

Boxscore / Photo Gallery

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Everyone thought it was over. Everyone, that is, except the Bulldogs.

With a five-goal deficit as the clock ticked under 4:00 to play, the Bryant University men's lacrosse team dug even deeper than it had for the past 56 exhausting minutes, scoring four unanswered goals to bring itself to the very brink of a comeback against No. 17/17 Stony Brook. The Bulldogs kept the Seawolves on the ropes before simply running out of time, falling by a score of 8-7 Saturday afternoon at the Bryant Turf Complex.

Bryant (5-3) sophomore Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) would finish the day with a game-best four points off three goals and an assist, while freshman Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) would post a three-point effort (1 goal, 2 assists) for the only other multi-point performance for the Black and Gold. The nation's top goal scorer in Stony Brook's Jordan McBride was held to three goals for the visitors after averaging more than four tallies per outing, while Kevin Crowley recorded a trio of assists to pace the nationally ranked Seawolves (5-3).

With just minutes remaining in the contest after an inspiring effort from Weisenberg to put the ball in the back of the net with 3:55 left on the clock – the second-year middie ran the ball up from midfield on the clear and with three Stony Brook defensemen on his back, spun through the lane to sink his second goal of the game and get Bryant to within four, 8-4 – the Bulldogs suddenly found themselves with all the momentum.

But the home team still faced a significant deficit to a Stony Brook side that was potent both offensively and defensively, and the seconds seemed to tick away all too fast. Or, as it would turn out for Rick Sowell's Seawolves, not fast enough.

So Weisenberg went back to work.

With a man advantage – Bryant's first of the game – the Bulldogs cleared the ball into the offensive third, passing around the box until they found Weisenberg at the restraining line. Driving into traffic out in front, Weisenberg passed the ball off to junior John Truscello (Holbrook, N.Y.) at the edge of the crease, who fired a one-timer past Stony Brook goalie Charlie Paar to make it 8-5 with 3:14 to play.

When Stony Brook won the ensuing faceoff and fired a shot, sophomore netminder Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) came up with a huge save, clearing the ball back up field. A shot by junior midfielder Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) was followed by a pushing penalty on the Seawolves' Jared LeVerne, giving the home side the second extra-man opportunity of the frame and forcing a Stony Brook timeout.

Out of the timeout, McMahon ripped a shot that was stopped by Paar, but the Bulldogs maintained possession of the ball. Bryant searched for an opportunity to get to the goal, finding it with 1:20 still to play when McMahon picked up a ground ball and shoveled it off to Weisenberg, leaving the Bulldogs' leading goal scorer with an open lane to complete his hat trick as the penalty expired, bringing the home team just two scores shy of tying up the game.

In one of the biggest faceoffs of the season, junior specialist Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) found himself on the winning end, getting his only faceoff victory of the half after going 6-for-8 in the first two quarters to keep the ball on the side of the Black and Gold.

Roberts quickly dished the ball off to McMahon, who found himself without any open white jerseys to help. So with 56 seconds left and still a two-goal disadvantage to overcome, the rookie fired a shot that hit just inches from its target, clanking loudly off the post and ricocheting out of harm's way.

But the Bulldogs weren't out of time yet. With 12 seconds to play, Weisenberg would cause a key turnover on Stony Brook's Kevin Crowley in the Bulldogs' defensive third and the home side quickly sent the clear up front to McMahon. The rookie handled the ball and passed it off to sophomore Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) on the right side, who buried a shot past the stick of Paar to close the gap to just one, 8-7.

But with only seven seconds showing on the clock, despite having a chokehold on the momentum for the first time in the contest, Bryant simply ran out of time, falling just a single score shy of the comeback.

“We're disappointed that we waited so long to really start playing,” said fourth-year Bryant head coach Mike Pressler. “Stony Brook is a heck of a team and is certainly well coached, but I thought at the end of the game our sense of urgency was at an all-time high and the guys responded. But where was that in the first three periods?”

But the visitors' lead didn't really open up until after the halftime break. The Bulldogs and the Seawolves played a tight first half, with Stony Brook taking advantage of an unsettled Bryant side in the opening five minutes to go up, 2-0, just 3:12 into Saturday's contest.

Bryant got back in it with under four to play in the opening session, when Weisenberg sprinted in from the right side and released a shot that found net in the left side netting to cut Stony Brook's lead in half, 2-1.

Junior Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) powered a shot past Paar to open second-period scoring and knot the game at 2-2 with 8:37 on the clock, but it took the Seawolves just 15 seconds to return the favor, when Kevin Crowley hooked up with McBride off the faceoff to regain the 3-2 edge.

It was the first of four-consecutive Stony Brook tallies that spanned the middle periods, as McBride made it 4-2 with just 16 seconds to go before the intermission and Steven Waldeck and Timmy Trenkle scored back-to-back goals to open third-frame action for a 6-2 advantage.

An unassisted McMahon goal came with 9:45 to go in the third, but Tyler McCabe nullified the effort before the closing of the session with his own unaided tally.

And after strong defensively play from both sides kept the teams in a stalemate for the first 10 minutes of the fourth, Compitello broke the impasse with 5:44 remaining, giving the Seawolves the five-goal, 8-3 advantage and setting up Bryant's near comeback.

“I give Max Weisenberg credit for really making some plays down the stretch, and that certainly applies to Peter McMahon as well,” said Pressler. “Those two were key factors when we needed them the most, but at the end of the day, you have to play four quarters of very good lacrosse to beat a ranked team.

“For us to get this done, it had to be a 60-minute effort.”

With 11 shots in the final frame, the Bulldogs knotted the Seawolves in shots fired, each side taking 26. Stony Brook put 19 on Love to Bryant's 16 that found their target, and it was the Bulldogs' Gary Crowley who led the game with eight shots.

Bryant would edge its opponent in the ground ball battle, 33-30, and went 2-for-2 on extra-man opportunities, but Adam Rand and the Seawolves took the day at the faceoff X, winning 11-of-18, despite taking just two in the opening 30 minutes. Both teams turned the ball over 21 times on the afternoon while senior Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) had a big day defensively, forcing five caused turnovers and picking up six ground balls, both game highs. Weisenberg added three caused turnovers for the Bulldogs as well.

“Matt Murnane is incredible,” said Pressler. “If there is as good a defenseman in Division I in terms of making plays with his stick, I haven't seen him. He rose to the occasion for us again. The bigger the game, the better Matt plays, and that was certainly demonstrated again today against Stony Brook.”

Between the posts, Paar made nine saves for Stony Brook, while Love stopped 11 in 60 minutes of action. The game marks the second one-goal loss to a ranked opponent for the Bulldogs this season (5-4 loss to then-No. 4 North Carolina).

“I thought we could have held them to four or five goals if we cleared a bit better, and our young offense is a work in progress,” said Pressler. “We just need more possessions and we didn't get that done today. 

“It was a great learning experience for us, and I think our guys understand that every play is magnified when you are playing a team as good and as favored as Stony Brook,” Pressler continued. “But at the end of the day, there are no moral victories here. We have to play smarter, which we didn't do for much of the game, and we have to be more aggressive in the offensive end with our second line and first attack.”

The Bulldogs continue on their toughest stretch of the season to open April action and will face off against local rival Providence College for the first time in program history Saturday, April 3 at 2 p.m. in Providence.