Friday, March 27, 2009

FORMER COACH, PLAYER REUNITE ON SIDELINES AS BULLDOGS TRAVEL TO LEHIGH IN SEARCH OF THIRD-CONSECUTIVE WIN SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Bryant University head men's lacrosse coach Mike Pressler has been grateful for every game his Bulldogs have played in their inaugural Division I season, and along the way he has faced off against a number good friends, coaches and former players alike.

But Saturday's 3 p.m. bout against the Patriot League's Lehigh University is different. Why? Because this weekend, Pressler will exchange a pregame handshake with not just his former assistant coach, but his former player and two-time captain as well in the Mountain Hawks' second-year head coach Kevin Cassese.

"On a personal note, between 3:00 and 5:00 on Saturday, we'll both be playing hard and coaching hard, but leading up to the game and after the game, there are very very mixed emotions," said Pressler.

But that's not all. Because by Cassese's side will be another Duke standout in Taylor Wray, Cassese's Duke teammate and 2003 co-captain, now an assistant with the Mountain Hawks.

"I told Kevin and Taylor early in the preseason, I hope they win them all - except one," continued Pressler. "But regardless of the outcome, I'm really looking forward to catching up with Kevin and Taylor and their families afterward."

Cassese and Wray both played under Pressler at Duke University from 1999-2003, where they became two of the most decorated Blue Devils in program history.

But when Cassese's playing career at Duke was up, he turned to Pressler for his first coaching job, and Pressler helped to set him up with an assistant coaching position at Stony Brook for the 2005 season.

But when the end of the 2005 season brought about the departure of longtime Duke assistant coach Joe Alberici, Pressler called upon his former star to fill in the gap at his alma mater. Cassese would take the spot, reuniting with Pressler at Duke the very next season. Only this time, he would be with his coach on the sidelines rather than on the field.

But arguably nothing brought the two closer together than the Duke Lacrosse scandal of 2006, when a Blue Devils team party turned into national headline news thanks to shoddy police work, an ever-changing accuser's story and a media stronghold that just couldn't get enough of it all.

"I don't think our relationship really changed, we've been very close from Day One," Pressler said. "I think the Duke situation brought us even closer together, and I am a tremendous fan of his in so many ways."

Cassese would become interim head coach of the Blue Devils, bridging the gap between Pressler's resignation and the hiring of current Duke coach John Danowski, spending one more season in Durham before becoming Lehigh's head coach on July 5, 2007.

"When I spoke to Lehigh Athletic Director Joe Sterrett about Kevin's candidacy when he was being interviewed for the job, I told him that this is a star in the making here," said Pressler of his former assistant. "He will achieve the same level of success in the coaching ranks as he did as a student-athlete playing for the Blue Devils.

"Kevin is a young man that people gravitate to," he added. "He is a dynamic recruiter, an outstanding overall lacrosse coach and the kind of person a young man wants to play for. Lehigh University very soon will be contending for a Patriot League title and the NCAA tournament."

But this isn't the first time Pressler has faced off against a former colleague. In fact, it was Alberici and his talented Army squad who hosted the Bulldogs back on March 4 at Michie Stadium, playing Bryant to a tough 11-5 Bulldog loss.

"It's not easy facing off against former colleagues and former players," said Pressler, who has done so multiple times already this season. "It's more difficult than you think because you're rooting for them, but at the same time you want you and your team to do well. Once the whistle blows, the game is the game. It's the before and the after part where you struggle emotionally."

But Pressler will have more on his mind than reunions come Saturday, as his Bulldogs look to make it three-straight wins with a victory over Lehigh.

"I think we are certainly playing better overall," he said of his current Bulldog team. "Our young players are getting better each week, if not each game. But I told our team the other day, this will be as competitive a game as well play all year and we must be ready physically, mentally and emotionally for the challenge."

But to make it a streak, the Bulldogs (6-4) will have to get past a pesky Mountain Hawk side that averages 8.46 goals per game.

Lehigh (3-7) is led by 18 goals and 16 assists from Ricky Cornetta, but five different Mountain Hawks have recorded double-digit goals in the 2009 season, including Brian Bienemann (14g, 4a) and Cameron Lao-Gosney (13g, 3a). All-in-all, 15 different Lehigh players have recorded goals this year.

Bryant faceoff specialist Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.), coming off his least successful outing of the season against Penn on Sunday, will have to deal with Will Scudder and his 56.1 winning percentage from the faceoff. Hennessey, despite the hiccup, still tops the nation with a 71.1 percent success rate.

Lehigh's starting lineup has been inconsistent this season, using 21 different starters over the past 10 games. Just four players - Cornetta, Chris Lubin, Dan Honeywell and Evan Guerrero - have started every game in 2009.

The Mountain Hawks also utilize a pair of netminders, with Conor Murphy starting six contests but appearing in eight with a 13.44 goals against average, a .434 save percentage and a 2-4 record, and Morgan Haller starting four games but seeing action in seven with a 9.51 goals against average, a .488 save percentage and a 1-3 mark.

Their Bryant counterpart, freshman Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) enters Saturday's contest with a 6-4 record coming off his strongest performance of the year in a 16-save win over Penn and sports a 9.15 GAA and a .542 save percentage in his rookie campaign.

Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.) has a nation's best 29 goals on the season to lead Bryant offensively and also has a team-best 15 assists. He is helped by 19 goals and nine assists from Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) and 16 goals and 11 helpers from Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) in carrying the scoring load of an offense that averages 11.7 goals per outing.

Sophomore middie Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) stepped up his scoring game with five goals against Penn Sunday afternoon, moving his total to 11 on the year (3 assists), while frosh Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) collected four tallies and a pair of helpers in the same game to up his total to 13 points (9g, 4a).

Sixteen different Bulldogs have recorded goals on the year, with 11 of them collecting three or more.

Saturday's outing also serves as the last road contest for the Bulldogs, who have four more home games to round out the 2009 season, including another Patriot League game as the Bulldogs will host Holy Cross in the season finale on April 22.