SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Mount St. Mary's rookie Brenden McCarthy fed Jack Mangan a spot-on pass right on the doorstep with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation and the middie would not miss, breaking a fourth-quarter deadlock to hand the Bryant University men's lacrosse team a 6-5 loss Saturday afternoon in the Northeast Conference season opener in Emmitsburg, Md.

The pass, set up by a Mount St. Mary's (2-4) called timeout with under a minute to play, found Mangan's stick for a one-timer past the pole of Bryant (4-5) junior netminder James Werner (New Rochelle, N.Y.) as the hosts earned their second-consecutive victory after starting the season 0-4.

The Bulldogs had their own chance to break the 5-5 tie with less than two minutes to play, when a Tom Forsberg (Huntington, N.Y.) shot with the man-advantage clanked off the post to feed Mount St. Mary's transition possession.

The six goals allowed marked the fewest goals given up in a loss by a Bryant since March 2, 2013 when the Bulldogs fell to Vermont in overtime, 6-5.

But the Mount wouldn't own its first lead until late in Saturday's contest, as the Bulldogs started out the game with a three-goal lead. Bryant would keep the home team off the board until the final 1:40 of the opening half, when a man-down goal from Mount leading scorer Chris DiPretoro made the score 3-1 entering the intermission.

But it would take just 10 seconds – and just the host's second faceoff win of the day – to cut that gap to one, 3-2, as Mangan capitalized on a Shawn Raum (3-for-12) win at the X for a quick unassisted score.

Senior midfielder Ryan Sharpe (Poway, Calif.) renewed the two-goal advantage less than two minutes later, but Mount would go on a three-goal spurt from there, stretching through the remainder of the third quarter.

That run started at the 11:03 mark with a goal from DiPretoro, and continued three minutes later with a Matt Haggerty tally to tie the contest up at 4-4. With 3:55 left on the third-quarter clock, DiPretoro would feed Bubba Johnson for a score that gave the home side their first lead of the day, 5-4.

Junior attack Cam Ziegler (Carlsbad, Calif.) registered his second score of the day and 16th of the year less than three minutes into the fourth, but neither side would find netting from there, despite 19 combined fourth-frame shots, until the final 1.8 ticks of regulation.

Mount St. Mary's limited Bulldog leading scorer Tucker James (Essex Fells, N.J.) to just a pair of assists and five shots in a contest that featured strong defensive efforts from both sides. Those efforts were anchored by the masks between the pipes, as Werner turned away 11 and Matt Vierheller posted 15 saves on the afternoon. Bryant also got scores from rookie attack Jake Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) and junior midfielder Kyle Cornell (Darien, Conn.) in the affair.

Bryant won the ground ball battle, 27-22, thanks to a game-best six from junior Kenny Massa (Huntington, N.Y.), who was again near perfect at the faceoff X, going 10-for-13 (.769) on the day. The Bulldogs outshot the Mountaineers, 38-35.

The Black and Gold return home for their next contest, hosting NEC foe Saint Joseph's at the Bryant Track & Turf Complex March 25 at 1:00 p.m.