Bulldogs open 2015 NEC play Saturday at Hobart (1 p.m.)

GENEVA, N.Y. – The Bryant University men's lacrosse team opens 2015 Northeast Conference play Saturday afternoon on the road, taking on Hobart at Boswell Field in a 1:00 p.m. faceoff.

The Bulldogs (1-5) open the conference slate with a rematch of last season's NEC Championship, a victory the then-second-seeded Black and Gold took over the fourth-seeded Statesmen (3-3), 10-4, to earn a third-straight league title and second-consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

This season, the Bulldogs head to Geneva, N.Y., looking to jumpstart their 2015 campaign with a win in the league opener after their strongest showing of the year in a 10-9 loss at No. 2 North Carolina last time out. The opening of the conference schedule offers a restart of sorts for Pressler's Bulldogs, who were tabbed as the top team in the preseason coaches' poll.

"Our season, for so many reasons, begins tomorrow at Boswell Field," said head coach Mike Pressler. "We've had a very rigorous six-game non-league schedule to start 2015. We had hoped to be more successful than we've been, but the good news coming off of Spring Break is that we are getting better overall, and that has been exciting to see."

Bryant will look to veteran stalwarts Kevin Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) and Gunnar Waldt (Freeland, Md.) to lead the way entering league action with strong play down the middle.

The reigning NEC Co-Player of the Week, Massa enters the weekend ranked 11th in the country from the faceoff X, grabbing possession for the Bulldogs more than 60 percent of the time (80-132) while scooping up 8.3 ground balls per game, good for seventh nationally.

Waldt earned his second NEC Defensive Player of the Week nod after posting a season-high 15 saves against the Tar Heels, and the junior captain will need to continue that upward trend to get the Bulldogs back on track as they enter the heart of the 2015 schedule. Waldt enters Saturday's game with a 10.40 goals against average and .478 save percentage.

"That was another positive fallout from our game in Chapel Hill," said Pressler. "Both No. 40 [Waldt] and No. 41 [Massa] played to their All-American standard."

Offensively, Bryant will rely on top scoring duo Shane Morrell (Glen Mills, Pa.) and Tucker James (Essex Fells, N.J.) to drive the attack. The pair has combined for 23 of the team's 47 goals and nearly half of the squad's 73 total points with 17 and 16, respectively.

Rookie Cam Ziegler (Carlsbad, Calif.) completes the Bulldogs' top attacking unit and sits tied for third in both goals (6) and points (9). Junior midfielder Collins Gantz (Denver, Colo.) equals Ziegler's output, while frosh linemate Tom Kennedy (Farmingdale, N.Y.) also has nine points off four tallies and a team-leading five helpers.

"We've only reached double digits once this year," said Pressler. "We have to get to 10 goals in these remaining games. Our attack and our midfield haven't played well together, but we've made some changes in personnel and in how we do things, and we are hoping to jumpstart our offense against the Statesmen on Saturday."

Defensively, the trio of Connor Dent (Havertown, Pa.), Kyle Mummau (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Chas South (Lincroft, N.J.) will look to neutralize a solid Hobart attack paced by fifth-year senior Alex Love (9 goals, 13 points), who missed the 2014 season due to injury. A 2013 All-America Honorable Mention, Love has at least one goal in five-of-six contests and has recorded at least a point in every outing this season.

He will be flanked by junior Matt Opsahl and senior Zach Reed, who trail Love in points by just one and two, respectively. Opsahl's nine scores ties Love and starting middie Taylor Vanderbeek (10 points) for the team lead, and the junior enters weekend action ranked 16th in the nation and tops in the NEC with a .474 shot percentage.

"Last year, their best player didn't play," said Pressler of Love. "But No. 4 is back. He's a dangerous left-handed scorer, and overall, Hobart is just better than they were a year ago."

Between the pipes, the Bulldogs will need to beat 5-foot-10, 212-pound sophomore Jackson Brown, who has been solid in goal for the Statesmen through the opening six contests, posting 12.17 saves per game and a .541 save percentage, both good for second in the league and top-20 in Division I. Brown has started all six tilts with a 10.39 goals against average for Hobart, making double-digit stops on four occasions, including a season-high 18 at Georgetown March 7.

Saturday's contest marks the fifth all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Statesmen, with Bryant owning a 3-1 advantage after sweeping the two-game series in 2014. Hobart, however, has the only series win in Geneva, topping the Black and Gold, 5-4, back in 2011.

"Hobart is a new, exciting rival for us in the NEC, and they are always a tough out," said Pressler, "especially at Boswell Field."

Links for live audio, video and live stats for Saturday's 1:00 p.m. faceoff can be found at bryantbulldogs.com.