November 6, 2007

BRYANT WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE: WOMEN'S SOCCER HOSTS NCAA TOURNEY THIS WEEKEND; FOOTBALL HOSTS BENTLEY LOOKING TO CAPTURE NE-10 TITLE; VOLLEYBALL READY FOR NE-10'S

November 5, 2007

FOOTBALL HOSTS BENTLEY SATURDAY; WOMEN'S SOCCER AWAITS NCAA BID; VOLLEYBALL ENTERS NE-10 TOURNEY; RADZIK WINS NCAA REGIONAL
A big weekend has passed and another looms as the Bryant football team hosts Bentley this Saturday in search of its first-ever outright Northeast-10 Conference title. The Bulldogs have clinched at least a tie for the second consecutive year but can win the title with a win over their rivals. Women's soccer fell to Saint Rose, 2-1 in the conference championship Sunday and will host an NCAA New England Regional game on Sunday at 1 pm. The Bulldogs will face the winner of Friday's Franklin Pierce / Holy Family first round game. Volleyball heads to the NE-10 tournament as the top seed and finally congratulations to senior runner Nicole Radzik (Sutton, Mass.) who captured the school's first-ever NCAA Northeast-10 Regional Championship on Saturday.

BULLDOG WEEKLY ROUNDUP ...

CROSS COUNTRY
Bryant University senior Nicole Radzik (Sutton, Mass.) captured first place honors at the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional Championship on Saturday afternoon at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. Radzik, the 2007 Northeast-10 Conference Champion, earned a trip to the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row by finishing in a time of 22 minutes, 43 seconds. Radzik finished ahead of Bentley's Melissa Nash who was second in 22:54 while Stonehill's Kristina Coriaty was third in 23:03. The Bryant men were ninth with 281 points with Tom Casey (New Windsor, NY) placing 47th in 35:07 and Nathaniel Green (York, Maine) right behind in 48th in a time of 35:10. Radzik will advance to the NCAA Championships in Joplin, Missouri on Saturday, Nov. 17. This will be her second straight trip to the NCAA's earning an at-large invitation last year.

FOOTBALL (7-2, 7-1 NE-10)
The Bryant football team dropped its first conference game of the season and fell for the second consecutive week as the Bulldogs came up on the wrong end of a 56-28 score as Southern Connecticut rolled to the win at Jess Dow Field in New Haven on Friday night. Southern's Jermon Freeman rushed for an NCAA Division II record 418 yards on 34 carries in the game. Bryant rallied to tie the game 28-28 in the third quarter on an 17-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Charlie Granatell (Franklin Lakes, NJ) to Chris Arnold (Wyckoff, NJ) but that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get. Despite the loss, the good news for Bryant is the Bulldogs will have a week to regroup before hosting rival Bentley College next Saturday still with a chance to claim the school's first Northeast-10 Conference Championship at Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is at noon.

WOMEN'S SOCCER (17-1-5, 11-0-3 NE-10)
The Bryant women's soccer team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker at Saint Rose in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship game played in Albany, NY Sunday. The loss is the first this season for the Bulldogs who will host an NCAA New England Regional game on Sunday at 1 pm. The Bulldogs will face the winner of Friday's Franklin Pierce / Holy Family first round game. In Sunday's championship, the second consecutive appearance in the conference finals (falling to Franklin Pierce 3-1 last year), the Bulldogs fell behind 1-0 just 14 minutes into the match, but Tricia Spada (Dedham, Mass.) evened things up with a goal a minute later. The Golden Knights, the top-team in the region and No. 1 seed of the tournament, would score the game winner with under four minutes left in regulation.

The Northeast-10 announced the 2007 Women's Soccer All-Conference team and the Bulldogs were well represented. Spada and Danielle Malta (Bethel, Conn.) were named first team all-conference while Amy Orzechowski (Milford, Conn.) was a second team selection. Sophomores Holly Tyser (Somers, Conn.) and Alex Dipippo (Shelton, Conn.) were named third team. Malta took home top honors as the Defensive Player of the Year while head coach Chris Flint (Colby '92) was named Northeast-10 Coach of the Year for the second time (2002).

VOLLEYBALL (27-12, 14-0 NE-10)
The Bryant women's volleyball team picked up three more wins this week but none more important than a 3-0 win over Assumption on Tuesday to complete a perfect Northeast-10 Conference season (14-0) and claim to the program's fifth NE-10 Conference regular season title. The Bulldogs, winners of six-straight, will be the No. 1 seed of the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference tournament this weekend at Bentley's Dana Center in Waltham, MA. The Bulldogs will face eighth-seed Saint Rose on Friday. The championship is scheduled for Saturday night at 7 pm. The Bulldogs will be seeking their fifth NE-10 Tournament Championship.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING
The Bryant University women's swim team won at home for the second time in as many tries this season, defeating Eastern Connecticut State University, 112-85, and Husson College, 111-68, at a women-only meet Friday night in the Chace Athletic Center Pool. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore standout Jess Looney (Goffstown, NH), who took away top times in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:11.10), the 200-yard IM (2:20.94) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:30.93). Also paving the way for Bryant's victory was freshman Jill Hira (Cheshire, Conn.), who took first-place finishes in the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyle with times of 2:02.65 and 57.37, respectively. Hira also helped lead the women to a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Bulldogs touched the wall first in seven of 11 events Friday night. The team will compete this Saturday at Bentley.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Bryant women's basketball team was picked to finish ninth in the Northeast-10 Conference this season by the league coaches, but the Bulldogs looked a little better than that in earning a 57-44 exhibition win at Fairleigh Dickenson on Wednesday evening. Courtney Schermerhorn had 16 points and four assists to lead the Bulldogs while Cara Johnson added 14 points. Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) had 11 rebounds.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
The Bulldogs dropped a 100-65 decision to Connecticut on Sunday afternoon at the Hartford Civic in the first of two exhibition games for the Bulldogs to open the 2007-08 schedule. Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) had 15 points to lead the visitors. Bryant will travel to BYU on Wednesday before opening the regular season Nov. 17 at Bridgeport. The Bulldogs were picked to finish fourth in the preseason Northeast-10 Conference coaches poll.

BULLDOG NOTES ...

FOOD COLLECTION THIS SATURDAY AT FOOTBALL GAME
Bryant's Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) in conjunction with our partnership with LaPerche Elementary School will be coordinating our annual food drive to conclude with this Saturday's football game against rival Bentley. Patrons bringing a non-perishable food item donation to the game will receive $1.00 discount on their ticket.

The food collection is to benefit the LaPerche Elementary and Smithfield Food Banks. The collection area will be just outside the ticket tent, manned by SAAC members and those making a donation will receive a coupon to redeem at the ticket tent. Our goal is to exceed the 3000lbs of food items we collected via the drive last year.

For more information, please contact Caitlan Johnson cjohnso8@bryant.edu. To order tickets, please contact Mark Hodgkin at mhodgkin@bryant.edu or by phone at 232-6513.