Bryant Weekly Sports Update: Men's Basketball Selected To Fourth-Consecutive NCAA Tournament; Greigre Heads To Indoor Nationals
MEN'S BASKETBALL SELECTED TO NCAA TOURNAMENT; MEN'S
LACROSSE FALLS TO #5 C.W. POST SATURDAY; HAFIZ GREIGRE TO HEAD TO
NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Bryant men's basketball team was selected to its
fourth-straight NCAA Division II tournament, earning a No. 3
seed. The Bulldogs will open quarterfinal regional tournament
play this Saturday against sixth-seed Adelphi at Bentley's Dana
Center ... Men's lacrosse fell to 0-2 after a 10-7 loss to
fifth-ranked C.W. Post Saturday.
BULLDOG WEEKLY ROUNDUP ...
MEN'S BASKETBALL (19-10)
The Bryant men's basketball team was selected to the NCAA
Division II tournament Sunday night and will open play as the No. 3
seed taking on Adelphi in the first round Saturday at noon.
After falling to Bentley in the NE-10 Conference semifinals on
Thursday, Bryant will be making its fourth-straight NCAA tournament
appearance (sixth overall). The Bulldogs are the only team in
the region to qualify for the NCAA tournament four times in the
last four years. In 2005, Bryant defeated Adelphi in the
first round en route to its first regional championship (defeating
Bentley at the Dana Center in the final) and berth in the NCAA
Championship game. The winner of the Bryant - Adelphi game will
face the winner of the Saint Rose - Pace game in the semifinals
Sunday in Waltham, Mass. Bentley is the No. 1 seed and ranked
No. 2 nationally at 29-0. Senior Chris Burns
(Merrimack, NH) was named first-team all-conference while
junior Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) was named
third team all-conference. Burns has 105 three-point field
goals this year.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (19-10)
The Bryant women's basketball season came to a close
last Tuesday, falling at Saint Rose 78-73 in a Northeast-10
Conference quarterfinal round game. Senior
Joanna Skiba (Providence, RI) concluded an
excellent four-year career by being named to the Northeast-10
All-Conference Second team. This is the third straight season Skiba
is an all-conference honoree. In addition, freshman Kelsey
O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) was selected to the All-Rookie
team. O'Keefe led the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding. Bryant
finished its season seventh in the Northeast-10 with a 19-10
record, well ahead of its preseason conference pick of
11th.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK
The Bryant men's and women's indoor track & field
season comes to a close this weekend when sprinter Hafiz
Greigre (Attleboro, Mass.) takes part in the Division II
Indoor Championships at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center. This
will be the second year Greigre will compete at the championships
as the junior sprinter will run the 200 meters. Greigre was
third at the New England Championships in the 200 meters, finishing
in a school-record time of 21.33 seconds. The mark is the
nation's No. 2 fastest in Division II this year.
Listing: http://www.flashresults.com/flashwest/
BASEBALL (4-6)
The Bryant baseball team swept Sunday's doubleheader,
defeating Concordia 6-4 and New Haven 2-0 to finish successful
three-day trip to Florida 4-0. The Bulldogs needed extra innings to
edge Concordia but stormed ahead with two runs in the tenth inning.
With two outs and a runner at third, Dave Muscatello
(Hopkinton, MA) singled to plate Taylor Ferguson
(Charlton, MA) with the game-winning run. Nick
Campbell (Raynham, MA) added some insurance with a single
to score Muscatello. Ferguson was 3-for-4 with a triple and scored
three runs. Kevin Cobb (Acton, MA) made his second
start of the season. He struck out five and surrendered four runs
(one earned) in 7 1/3 innings. Chris Fondas (Needham,
MA) (1-0) picked up the win, throwing 1 2/3 perfect
innings of relief and Adam Vuolo (Walpole, MA)
earned his first save with a perfect tenth.
In the second game, freshman righty Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, MA) threw eight innings of three hit ball to pick up his first collegiate victory. Almeida had some great defense behind him and he struck out just one while walking two.
Bryant managed just three hits offensively and scored both runs in the second inning. Senior Mike Rocco (Tewskbury, MA) led off the inning getting drilled and advanced to third on a double by Ferguson. 3B/C Jason Alexander (Simsbury, CT) got Rocco home with a ground out and Grant Tonelli (Greenwood, CA) followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Ferguson.
That was all Almeida (1-1) and his defense would need to give the Bulldogs their fourth straight win and sealing a perfect 4-0 road trip. Vuolo pitched the ninth to pick up his second save of the day. The Bulldogs (4-6) will take on Limestone next Saturday in a doubleheader, kicking off a 12-game road trip over nine days.
MEN'S LACROSSE (0-2, 0-0 NE-10)
Sophomore Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley,
NY) notched a hat trick with three goals but it was not
enough to overtake fifth-ranked C.W. Post as the Pioneers withstood
a late charge by ninth-ranked Bryant University to pull out a 10-7
win over the ninth-ranked Bulldogs in non-conference men's lacrosse
action Saturday afternoon. With temperatures feeling more
like spring compared to last week's opener that had a wind-chill in
the single digits, the Bryant offense fell behind 4-1 after one
quarter and the Bulldogs trailed 6-2 midway through the second
before scoring a pair of goals just before halftime to close to
within two.
Kaufmann found a seam in front of the Pioneer goal and beat CWP goalie Nick Dello-Iacono high for an unassisted goal to make it 6-3. Then, with under a minute to play in the half, sophomore Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) picked up a loose ball after a save by Dello-Iacono on a shot by Bryant freshman Brad Burton (Hauppauge, NY), and one-timed one by the Pioneer goalie to make it 6-4 at the break.
In the second, CW Post went up 7-4, but Bryant would answer as Burton tallied a man-up goal of his own at the 8:57 mark and Kaufmann would net his third of the game after Burton snared another ground ball and quickly fed Kaufman who whirled around one defender and scored to make it 7-6.
Bryant will travel to #9 Saint Andrew's next Sunday for a non-conference game starting at 1 p.m. The team will visit third-ranked NYIT on March 17 before returning home to host Pace on March 20. C.W. Post will travel to Southern N.H. next Saturday for a 1 p.m. game in Manchester, NH.
WOMEN'S LACROSSE (0-0, 0-0 NE-10)
The Bryant University women's lacrosse team was picked to
finish third in the Northeast-10 for 2007 following release of the
preseason coaches poll on Thursday. The Bulldogs garnered 100
points in the voting, including one first-place vote.
Defending conference champion Stonehill was picked to repeat in
2007 with Merrimack picked to finish second. Bryant, under
the direction of third year coach Karen Rife
(formerly Healy) will open the 2007 season on Friday March 16 in
Florida against regional power C.W. Post. The first home game
for the Bulldogs will be on Monday, March 19 when Bryant host New
Haven at 4 p.m.
MEN'S TENNIS (4-0 overall, 3-0
NE-10)
The Bryant men's tennis team got off to an impressive start
February 24, opening their spring schedule with an 8-1 victory to
run their year-to-date record to 4-0.
The Bulldogs got off to a strong start, winning all three doubles points and rolled to the win. Dylan Whiting (Florence, Mass.) and Matthew Shephard-Lupo (West Boothbay Harbor, ME) won at No. 1 doubles while the team of Kevin Gardiner (Powder Springs, GA) and Craig Druschella (Harwich, Mass.) defeated Paul Kosinski and Ross Charbonne 8-1 at No. 2.
The Bulldogs completed their fall schedule 3-0 with wins over Merrimack, St. Michael's and Division-I Rhode Island. The team returns to action March 13 against Wright State in Orlando, Florida.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Barbara Cilli's Bryant tennis squad got off to a good
start in their first match of the spring semester with a 8-1
victory over Pace on February 24 in Hartford, Conn. The Bulldogs
swept the doubles play and won five of the six singles matches. The
duo of Sacha Solomon (Bourne, Mass.) and
Annette Jervasi (Colchester, Conn) easily won at
No. 1 doubles. Lauren Mullen (Braintree,
Mass.) and Michelle Burke (Barrington,
RI) swept Kaylee Anderson and Nicole Zalak 8-0 at No. 2
doubles, and Heather Fedesco (Rocky Hill, Conn.)
and Kristen Swanson (West Newbury, Mass.) handled
Montana Sarisky and Jessica D'Amico 8-3 at No. 3. The surprise of
the day was Subotic's victory over Solomon in the #1 singles
matchup. The loss was Solomon's first NE-10 loss in her spectacular
career. In the rest of the singles action, Jervasi, Burke, Swanson,
Mullen, and Shea Crosby (Guilford, Conn.) all
captured victories.
