Sunday, March 15, 2009
BULLDOGS DROPPED BY NO. 5/7 TERPS, 13-6, SUNDAY AFTERNOON TO ROUND OUT SPRING BREAK TRIP
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A pair of goals from senior captain Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.) and senior Jim Long (Durham, N.H.) wouldn't be enough to offset 32 turnovers Sunday afternoon, as the Bryant University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 5/7 Maryland, 13-6, at Ludwig Field to round out its three-game Spring Break trip.
The Terps (5-2) were led by hat tricks from Dan Groot and Travis Reed, but found goals from eight different scorers in total in the victory. The home side used six first-frame tallies to get out in front and stay there, holding the Bulldogs (4-4) to just a single second-half goal. The Bulldogs were never able to take a lead in the contest after a shaky start, bringing the game within one just once, coming in the opening period.
"We lost to a very very determined team today," said Bryant head coach Mike Pressler. "Maryland certainly played with a sense of urgency and unfortunately we didn't."
Maryland took an early 2-0 advantage within the first two minutes of play, both man-up goals after consecutive penalties called on Anthony Iannello (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.).
"That's certainly not the way you wanted to start," said Pressler. "Anthony plays hard, but to take two fouls to go down 0-2 on two man-up goals was not the start we were looking for."
Senior co-captain Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) cut the Terps' lead in half 2:33 into the contest with an extra-man goal of his own from the left side after receiving a Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) feed. The goal came just 43 seconds after back-to-back Maryland goals.
But Groot notched his second tally of the game with 10:47 to play to bring the home side's lead back up to 3-1, despite heavy pressure on his back heading toward the Bulldog goal.
Maryland made the score 4-1 before the Bulldogs would score again, this time getting an unassisted goal from Long - his first of the day - off the faceoff with 6:46 still to play in the first session.
Junior Bryant Amitrano (Valley Stream, N.Y.) hit Greer with a nicely placed pass as he was streaking across in front of the cage for Bryant's third goal of the contest and a 4-3 deficit. But with 4:25 to go in the first period, that would be as close as the Bulldogs would come in the loss. The Terps used goals from Groot and leading scorer Grant Catalino with under three minutes to play before the first break to take a 6-3 edge entering the second frame.
"We just got blitzed right out of the box," said Pressler. "They were at a high level coming out of the locker room and we certainly weren't to that level, to say the least."
The sides would match goals, 2-2, in the second to keep the margin the same entering the halftime intermission, but Bryant would first bring the score to 7-5 after an unassisted goal from Crowley and the second of the day from Greer - this one off a dish from senior Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) - with just over five minutes remaining.
But Joe Cummings would re-up the edge to three goals with a man-up tally from dead center about six yards out with 3:27 to send Bryant to the half down, 8-3.
"Even after surviving that onslaught at the beginning, at 8-5 at the half we felt we were still right in the game," said Pressler. "But Maryland came out in the first five minutes of the second half and put any hope of a comeback out of reach."
The Terps shut the Bulldogs down from the first whistle of the second half. Scoring four goals before Bryant could answer, Maryland took a 12-5 lead over the first 13 minutes of the third quarter.
Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) finally found Long upfield with 1:48 to play in the third to answer the onslaught of Maryland goals and give the Bulldogs' a 12-6 deficit entering the last 15 minutes, but that would be the final Bryant tally of the afternoon.
In the final period, the Bulldogs would hold the Terps to just a single goal - a Travis Reed tally with 4:54 to play - for the 13-6 final.
"The game was decided in the first five minutes of the third quarter," said Pressler. "At 8-5, you're still in it. But that first few minutes of the second half you have to seize the momentum and we didn't."
Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.) continued his success from the faceoff against one of the best individual matchups in the nation, winning 16-off-22 opportunities from the X and leading the Bulldogs, matched by Murnane, with five ground balls.
Freshman goalie Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) also did his part between the pipes, tying a career-high with 13 saves while facing 41 Maryland shots.
The nationally ranked Terps outdid the Bulldogs in nearly every category, outshooting Bryant, 41-21, while also winning the ground balls game, 49-35. The Bulldogs forced Maryland goalkeeper Jason Carter to make five saves and turned the ball over with a 32-20 margin.
"The teams that wants it more and win the game in the ground ball battle are the teams that are going to be successful," said Pressler. "And the physicality of the ground ball play certainly went to the Maryland team today.
"At the end of the day, we just turned it over too many times," he continued. "We squandered opportunities and you can't do that against good teams. Scoring one goal in the second half is certainly disappointing, but to play against a team that is a little bit better in all those areas, we just gotta be on top of our game and were weren't today. There has to be a sustained, consistently high level of play and we didn't do that."
The Bulldogs now return to Smithfield, R.I. but will have a quick turnaround, hosting a pair of weekend games against Detroit-Mercy (Friday, 7 p.m.) and Penn (Sunday, 1 p.m.).
"We're 4-4 after our first eight games and we've beaten the four teams that we were equal to or favored by. The other four we were most certainly the underdog," said Pressler. "But the next seven games are all ones we feel we can certainly be competitive in and, without question, have a great chance at victory."
