November 2, 2007

BRYANT BATTLES TOP-SEEDED SAINT ROSE IN NE-10 FINAL SUNDAY AT 1 PM

2007 BRYANT BULLDOGS

The No. 8 Bryant University women's soccer team travels to Albany, NY Sunday afternoon to faceoff against No. 3 Saint Rose in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship bout. And for one team, it will be the first loss of the season. Gametime is 1 p.m.

The Golden Knights are the conference's top seed and, like the second-seeded Bulldogs, are undefeated on the season. Saint Rose boasts a 16-0-2 on the year and own the No. 1 seed in the latest New England Regional Poll, one spot above No. 2 Bryant (17-0-5).

Neither team has allowed a goal in the NE-10 tournament, and Saint Rose has allowed just seven all year. Bryant has allowed only 16. Saint Rose's road to the confernce final is paved with 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Bentley and Merrimack, while Bryant has advanced to the finals on a 2-0 win over UMass Lowell and a victory over Franklin Pierce in a shootout.

The teams met once during the regular season, battling to a 2-2 double-overtime draw at home on Oct. 3.

Saint Rose has recorded 51 goals on the year to Bryant's 50 and leads the league in goals allowed (7) and goals against average (0.36). But it is Bryant's junior goalkeeper Jessica Clark (Barnstable, Mass.) who owns the NE-10's best goals against average (0.09) and top save percentage (.971), notching seven shutouts and allowing just one goal in 2007.

So under the weight of two top-10 national rankings in a conference championship struggle, one team will feel something Sunday night that it hasn't yet experienced in 2007 - the sting of defeat.

But it is not likely that Sunday's game will mean the end of a season for either team. With the top two regional rankings, both teams are expected to receive NCAA Tournament bids, to be announced Monday at 5 p.m.

Check back to www.bryantbulldogs.com for teams, times and tournament hosts Monday.