Bulldogs crack top-20, Waldt takes home NEC weekly honors

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant University men's lacrosse senior netminder Gunnar Waldt (Freeland, Md.) has been named the Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.

Waldt earns his fourth NEC Defensive Player of the Week honor this season after posting a .710 save percentage combined in two victories for the Bulldogs. On Tuesday against Mount St. Mary's, the senior made 12 saves en route to a 12-7 win over the Mountaineers. The Freeland, Md., native then followed up with an 11-save effort in a 15-2 triumph over Hobart on Saturday's Senior Day contest.

The two goals allowed against Hobart ties for the fewest that the senior captain has allowed in his career and also ties for the fewest goals allowed by the Bulldogs in their Division I history. Likewise, the two goals yielded matched the lowest total in an NEC game in the league's seven-year history. Waldt leads the NEC in saves per game (10.92) and ranks second in save percentage (.555).

The two victories propel No. 20 Bryant into the top-20, according to this week's Cascade/Maverick Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, for the first time since 2014 when it was ranked as high as No. 11. The Bulldogs have the 11th-best RPI in the nation, and have signature victories over then No. 7/8 Harvard and No. 2 Brown, with games in hand against No. 6 Yale and a Bucknell squad receiving votes and ranked No. 20 according to the USILA Coaches Poll.

The Bulldogs conclude the regular season on Tuesday night at Sacred Heart, with faceoff set for 7:00 p.m.