RV/No. 20 Bulldogs wrap up regular season at Pioneers, Tuesday at 7 p.m.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's lacrosse team will close out the regular season and look to remain in contention for hosting rights in the Northeast Conference Tournament when it travels to Sacred Heart for a 7:00 p.m. matchup on Tuesday.

The RV/No. 20 Bulldogs (9-4, 4-1 NEC) and Pioneers (2-12, 0-4) have played each other nine times as conference foes, and Tuesday's visitors have won all nine meetings. Both sides have been headed in completely different directions, as the Bulldogs are winners of five of their last six and earned their first national ranking since 2014 according to this week's Cascade/Maverick Media Poll. The Pioneers have dropped 11-straight outings and have not won since late February. The Pioneers are a team with recent success, having faced the Bulldogs in the conference tournament in 2013 and 2014 with the two games being losses by a combined six goals.

But this season's Sacred Heart team has had its struggles compared to teams of recent years, ranking last in the NEC in scoring offense (8.00), scoring defense (12.64), ground balls per game (25) and face-off winning percentage (43.8). Leading the charge offensively for the Pioneers has been a collection of midfielders. Junior and Second-Team All-NEC selection in 2015, Brian Masi, paces the team with 33 points on 20 goals and 13 assists. Senior Alex Dodge has 29 points on 19 goals and 10 helpers, freshman Max Tuttle has 28 points on 18 scores and 10 assists and junior Bryan Jurk has 23 points on 11 goals and 12 assists. But against the Bulldogs, Masi has just one assist in four matchups and Dodge has tallied five goals and three assists in five encounters.

Regardless of the offensive threats for the Pioneers over the years, senior goalie Gunnar Waldt (Freeland, Md.) has been stout against Tuesday's hosts. Waldt has made 48 saves and allowed 35 goals in five affairs with Sacred Heart, not allowing more than nine goals in any of those games. Waldt, who leads the NEC in saves per game (10.92) and sits second in save percentage (55.5), has been stellar over the last month, turning away double-digit attempts in six of the last seven games. He made 10 saves on Saturday against Hobart, allowing just two goals which tied for the fewest scores he had allowed in his career.

The two goals allowed by Bryant tied for a single-game low in its Division I history, and it also tied for an NEC single-game low in the league's seven-year tenure at DI lacrosse. The two goals allowed were not just due to Waldt's play between the pipes, as a complete defensive showcase was the driving force to the performance. The Bulldogs forced 22 Statesmen turnovers, 12 of which were caused. The long poles were extremely active in the win, with junior long-stick mid Cody O'Donnell (Smithfield, R.I.) causing four turnovers and defenders Chas South (Lincroft, N.J.) and Kyle Mummau (Carlsbad, Calif.) causing a pair of turnovers apiece.  

Despite the struggles on both sides, the Pioneers have success turning opponents over as well, as they sit third in the league in caused turnovers per game. Junior long-pole middie Ryan O'Donoghue leads the conference and sits fifth in the nation with 2.00 caused turnovers per game, and senior defender Chase Godfrey has registered 16 caused turnovers on the year. The two have done their part to aid freshman netminder Greg Price in his first collegiate season. Price sits fifth in the league with 9.45 saves per game, a 49.3 save percentage and a 12.25 goals-against average.

Much like the Bryant defense, the Sacred Heart long poles will try to force turnovers against a Bulldog offense that just put together one of their most complete performances of the season in the 15-2 win against Hobart. In total, 11 Bulldogs tallied points, led by junior attack Tucker James (Essex Fells, N.J.) and senior attackman Shane Morrell (Glen Mills, Pa.) with five points each. The two have paced all current Bulldogs against the Pioneers in their careers with 10 goals and seven assists from Morrell and eight goals and three assists from James. The Essex Fells, N.J., native sits second in the NEC in points per game (4.00) and leads the league in assists per game (1.69).

The Bulldogs led the Statesmen, 4-2, after the first period of Saturday's game, but netted three goals in the final 10 minutes of the second and caged five goals in the third quarter. The offense was clicking over that stretch due to sophomore mid Kenny Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) winning 7-of-10 faceoffs. Though the matchup at the X seems to be skewed in Bryant's favor with Massa winning 53.6 percent of his opportunities compared to a league-worst winning percentage for the Pioneers, four different specialists have taken faceoffs for Tuesday's hosts. Sophomore Mike Calvagna has taken 178 matchups at the X and wins 51.6 percent of them. But senior Andrew Burnett is winning just under 30 percent of his 91 opportunities, and Tuttle wins under 50 percent of his 42 chances.

The Bulldogs will have a lot to play for on Tuesday, despite no controlling their own destiny for hosting rights in the NEC tourney. Still needing St. Joseph's, the current top seed, to lose once more, the Black and Gold will head into Tuesday ready to go, in hopes of keeping their chances to host alive and attaining a 10-win season.

The regular season finale at Sacred Heart can be seen on NECFrontRow.com and followed along via livestats on SacredHeartPioneers.com.