Bulldogs trek to Western Pennsylvania for Friday night showdown with No. 13 Robert Morris
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The Bryant University men's lacrosse team makes its longest road trip of the regular season with a Friday night contest at No. 13 Robert Morris. The Bulldogs are looking for their third-straight win and their first 3-0 start to NEC play since 2013.
THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: No. 13 Robert Morris
Game Time: Friday, March 30 – 7 p.m.
Watch Live: NEC Front Row
Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Robert Morris is 6-2 and has won five straight after a 15-5 victory over Mount St. Mary's Saturday in Emmitsburg. The Colonials have defeated a pair of ranked teams - Penn State and Marquette - en route to a No. 13 ranking in this week's USILA poll.
Matt Schmidt leads the Colonial attack with 20 goals and 30 points, while Jimmy Perkins has added 18 assists and 29 points. Robert Morris ranks 10th in the nation in scoring offense (12.50), seventh in scoring defense (8.13) and third in caused turnovers per game (9.8).
THE SERIES
Bryant and Robert Morris are meeting for the 11th time with the Bulldogs holding an 8-2 advantage. The teams met twice in 2017 with Bryant taking both games, including a 12-3 victory in the NEC Semifinals at Hobart. Tom Kennedy (Farmingdale, N.Y.) had three goals, Kenny Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) was 14-of-17 from the face-off X and James Werner (New Rochelle, N.Y.) collected 15 saves in the conference semifinal victory.
LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 16, SACRED HEART 7
Bryant scored the final 11 goals of the game and held Sacred Heart off the scoreboard for the final 33 minutes of the contest in a 16-7 win Saturday in Fairfield. Freshman Marc O'Rourke (Hingham, Mass.) scored five goals in the win and junior Kevin Beimfohr (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) tallied a career-high 15 saves.
FAST START TO NEC PLAY FOR O'ROURKE
Freshman Marc O'Rourke earned NEC Player and Rookie of the Week honors for the second-straight week Monday after recording five goals and six ground balls in the win over Sacred Heart. O'Rourke has scored 11 goals in his first two career NEC games and has a team-high 22 on the year.
BEIMFOHR STANDING TALL IN NEC PLAY
Junior Kevin Beimfohr has posted his top two performances as a Bulldog in Bryant's first two NEC games. Beimfohr corralled 12 saves in the March 17 win over Mount St. Mary's before a career-best 15-save performance Saturday at Sacred Heart. The junior from New Jersey recorded a .682 save percentage in the win over the Pioneers and held SHU off the board for the entirety of the second half.
100/200
The March 17 win over Mount St. Mary's was the 200th in Bryant's program history and the 100th as a Division I member. The Bulldog program started in 2000 and the Black and Gold began play in Division I in 2009. Bryant is 126-75 since head coach Mike Pressler arrived in Smithfield for the 2007 season. The Mount game was also Pressler's 200th as Bryant head coach.
KENNEDY NAMED TO TEWAARATON, SENIOR CLASS AWARD WATCH LISTS
Senior Tom Kennedy was named to the watch lists for the Tewaaraton Award and Senior CLASS Award March 1. Kennedy is coming off a junior season in which he tallied 24 goals, 15 assists and 25 ground balls on his way to first-team All-NEC honors. Kennedy has 12 goals, nine assists and 18 ground balls in 2018.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Redshirt-sophomore Jake Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) and freshman Marc O'Rourke are two of just six NEC players with four or more man-up goals this season.
BULLDOGS AMONG NEW ENGLAND'S BEST
Bryant has won 101 games since joining Division I in 2009 - the highest total of the 15 Division I lacrosse programs in the six New England states. The Bulldogs' .601 winning percentage over those 10 seasons ranks third in New England behind Yale (.683) and Brown (.616).
355 AND COUNTING
Head coach Mike Pressler ranks sixth among active NCAA coaches in all divisions with 355 career victories. Of those 355, 126 have come while leading the Bulldogs since 2007.
CONFERENCE CALL
Bryant has a 35-10 record in NEC games since the conference began sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2010. The 35 wins are the most by any conference team - eight more than Robert Morris - and the .778 winning percentage is the best of the five teams that have been NEC members since the conference's formation.
NEXT UP: WAGNER
The Bulldogs return home for their penultimate regular-season home game when Bryant hosts Wagner April 7 at 1 p.m. at the Bryant Track & Turf Complex.
Bryant University Athletics has announced the Spring Sports Pass for the upcoming spring season. The Spring Sports Pass allows admission to all home men's and women's lacrosse, baseball and softball events for just $50. The Spring Sports Pass can be purchased by clicking HERE.
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