October 29, 2007
Bryant Sports News Update
Dowled PDF Version with Winter Schedules (pdf)
FALL SPORTS TEAMS MAKING PLAYOFF PUSH; WINTER SEASONS
UNDERDAY
As the winter sports seasons get ready to kick off, there
are several fall sports teams coming down the home stretch and well
underway in conference playoffs. Football and volleyball need
one more win to capture regular season conference titles while
women's soccer hosts Franklin Pierce Thursday night for an NE-10
Conference semifinal (6 pm) at the Turf Field. Men's and women's
swimming kicked off their seasons over the weekend while men's
basketball kicks off the season with the first of two exhibition
games this Sunday at Connecticut. Tipoff at the Harford Civic
Center is 1 pm.
BULLDOG WEEKLY ROUNDUP ...
CROSS COUNTRY
The Bryant men's and women's cross country teams were
idle this week and will return to action Saturday at the NCAA
Northeast Regional Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.
The women are led by Nicole Radzik (Sutton,
Mass.) who captured the Northeast-10 Conference Individual
title back on October 20.
FIELD HOCKEY (12-8, 12-4 NE-10)
The Bryant field hockey team concluded the 2007 season
with a 3-1 loss to Saint Anselm last Wednesday night in the
quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference tournament.
Courtney O'Brien (Tewksbury, Mass.) and sophomore
midfielder Caitlan Johnson (Walpole, Mass.) were
named first team all-conference while sophomore goalkeeper
Kundayi Mawema (Hare, Zimbabwe) was named second
team All-Northeast-10.
FOOTBALL (7-1, 7-0 NE-10)
The Bryant football team dropped its first game of the
season, 30-0 at Stony Brook on Saturday. The good news for
the Bulldogs is the team is still undefeated in Northeast-10
Conference play at 7-0 and can clinch the school's first out-right
conference title with a win in one of its final two games.
Bryant has already locked up at least a share of the title for the
second-straight year. The team will travel to Southern
Connecticut (6-3, 5-2 NE-10) this Friday night for a 7 pm game at
Jess Dow Field before returning home to host Bentley (6-2, 6-2
NE-10) in the regular season finale Nov. 10 at Bulldog
Stadium. Quarterback Charlie Granatell (Franklin Lakes, NJ)
has completed 109 of 179 passes (60.9 percent) this year for 1,312
yards and 10 touchdowns. Sophomore Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury,
Mass.) has 741 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. Southern
Connecticut is the top scoring team in the NE-10, averaging 37.4
points per game (Bryant is fourth at 27.1 ppg). Southern also leads
the conference in total offense with a whopping 494 yards per game
average (243 rushing and 251 passing).
MEN'S SOCCER (11-8, 6-7 NE-10)
The men's soccer team ended its season with a
heartbreaking loss at UMass Lowell in the Northeast-10 Conference
quarterfinals. The game came down to penalty kicks with UML
winning 4-3 in the shootout. Manny Rodriguez (North
Branford, Conn.) scored Bryant's lone goal of the game,
just 30 seconds into the match.
WOMEN'S SOCCER (17-0-4, 11-0-3 NE-10)
The Bryant women's soccer team advanced to the
Northeast-10 Conference semifinals for the second straight year
thanks to a 2-0 win over UMass Lowell Sunday evening in the
conference quarterfinals. Holly Tyser (Somers,
Conn.) and Diane Pascale (Plymouth,
Mass.) provided all of the scoring the Bulldogs would need
and the defense, led by sophomore standout Brianne
Lustenring (Massapequa, NY) did the rest. The Bulldogs
will host Franklin Pierce on Thursday night in a semifinal game
starting at 6 pm at the Bryant Turf Field Complex. Bryant
handed Franklin Pierce its only loss of the season, 2-1 back on
September 8. The winner will face the winner of Thursday's
other semifinal game between top-seed Saint Rose and Merrimack this
Sunday.
VOLLEYBALL (24-12, 13-0 NE-10)
The Bryant volleyball team picked up three more wins this
past week, defeating Franklin Pierce, Southern Connecticut and
Pace. With one more conference regular season match (Tuesday
at Assumption) left, the Bulldogs can clinch the team's fifth
Northeast-10 Conference regular season title and the program's
first since 2004 with a victory. The Northeast-10 Conference
tournament will take place Nov. 9-10 at Bentley College's Dana
Center. The Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA
Northeast Region behind regional leader Dowling.
MEN'S GOLF
The Bryant men's golf team captured the New England
Division II Championship last week at the Captain's Course in
Brewster, Mass. The Bulldogs, led by the strong play of
Scott Congdon (Foxboro, Mass.) and Jason
Thresher (West Suffield, Conn.), finished third overall
behind URI and Connecticut.
SWIMMING
The Bryant men's and women's swim teams opened the
2007-08 winter season this past weekend as both the men and women
earned wins in a dual match with Roger Williams and both placed
fifth at the Bentley Invitational Sunday. The team's will
host Eastern Connecticut and Husson this Friday at the Chace
Athletic Center Pool.
BULLDOG NOTES ...
HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS SOUGHT
Nominations for the Bryant University Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2008 are now being accepted. Nomination forms can be found online at http://www.bryantbulldogs.com/. This year's class will be announced in October with the induction dinner scheduled for later this winter.
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