Bryant sees four-game winning streak snapped at Saint Joseph's

PHILADELPHIA – The Bryant University men's lacrosse team had its four-game winning streak snapped Saturday with a 14-7 loss to Saint Joseph's at Sweeney Field.

The defeat was the first in Northeast Conference play for the Bulldogs. Senior Cam Ziegler (Carlsbad, Calif.) and freshman Marc O'Rourke (Hingham, Mass.) scored two goals each for Bryant.

GAME INFORMATION
Saint Joseph's 14, Bryant 7
Records: Bryant (6-6, 4-1 NEC), Saint Joseph's (7-3, 4-0 NEC)
Location: Sweeney Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)

COACH PRESSLER'S COMMENTS
"It's hard to fathom for us that we could be outplayed in every facet of the game like that, other than the face-off. Give Saint Joe's credit. I know their head coach well – he's been one of my guys for a very long time. His team was ready to play and mine wasn't. Hats off to him; credit goes to them."

"We've got a lot of season left. We have Hobart Saturday at home on Senior Day. We're still in it to win it … It's nice to be in it, but we had an incredible chance to host [the NEC Tournament] and we just didn't fight back today.

KEY MOMENT

• Bryant cut the deficit to 4-3 on O'Rourke's goal with 13:24 to go in the second quarter before Saint Joseph's scored the final four goals of the first half and first two of the second to take a 10-3 advantage.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Saint Joseph's opened the scoring two minutes in before Ziegler tied the game 1-1 with 11:44 to go.
• The Hawks would retake the lead 13 seconds later and push the lead to 3-1 before Ziegler's goal with 3:57 remaining in the opening quarter brought the Bulldogs within 3-2. Saint Joseph's would score in the final seconds of the quarter to lead 4-2 after 15 minutes.
• O'Rourke cut it to a one-goal game with 13:24 to go in the half, but Saint Joseph's scored the next four goals to take an 8-3 lead into the locker room.
• Saint Joseph's scored the first two goals out of the half to push its advantage to 10-3 before junior Matt Heldberg (Kings Park, N.Y.) ended the Bryant scoring drought with 10:39 to go in the third quarter. The Hawks would score the next two to gain their largest lead of the day at 12-4.
• Bryant scored the final two goals of the third quarter, as tallies from senior Tom Kennedy (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and O'Rourke made it a 12-6 game through three quarters.
• Sophomore Trevor Weingarten (Allendale, N.J.) brought the Bulldogs within five at 12-7 with 13:38 to play, but Saint Joseph's would score the final two goals of the contest in the closing minutes for the final 14-7 margin.

STATS

• Ziegler had two goals on the afternoon, tying him for 10^th in program history in goals (82) and points (127).
• O'Rourke's two goals gave him 25 for his freshman campaign.
• Graduate student Kenny Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) was 17-of-24 at the face-off X with 11 ground balls.
• Senior Jake Chandler (Charlotte, N.C.) notched a career-high three caused turnovers.
• Junior Jack Horan (San Rafael, Calif.) tallied his first career assist and a career-high two caused turnovers.
• Sophomore Joe Peroni (Lakeville, Mass.) recorded a career-high two caused turnovers.
• Bryant outshot Saint Joseph's, 31-26.
• The Bulldogs held a 26-21 advantage in ground balls.

GAME NOTES

• Saint Joseph's improves to 4-4 against Bryant.
• The defeat was the first for Bryant since March 10 against Drexel.
• The seven goals matched a season-low.

UP NEXT
Bryant returns home to host Hobart Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day. Tickets are available by clicking HERE, while the game can be seen on NEC Front Row.

Follow Bryant University men's lacrosse on Twitter and Instagram to get an inside look at the program.