Bulldogs top USC, 15-8, Tuesday at home

VENDEL PACES BULLDOGS TO 15-8 VICTORY OVER TROJANS

SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Led by four goals from junior midfielder Lisa Vendel (Sandy Hook, Conn.), seven different players notched tallies for the Bryant University women's lacrosse team as the Bulldogs topped the University of Southern California, 15-8, Tuesday afternoon at home.

Vendel finished the game with six points, adding a pair of assists to an impressive day that also included a side-high five draw control wins and two caused turnovers. Five other Bulldogs (3-3) found the back of the net twice to propel the hosts to victory over the Trojans (5-6), who got six points (4 goals, 2 assists) from Caroline de Lyra in the outing.

Bryant opened up a five-goal lead just more than 10 minutes into the contest on scores from Skylar Zlotnick (Essex Fells, N.J.), Vendel, Shannon Burns (Mount Sinai, N.Y.), and a pair from junior Kimberley Sniffen (Redding, Conn.) before de Lyra got the visitors on the board with the first two of three-straight USC scores. But the Bulldogs would respond with yet another five-tally stretch to run out the first-half clock, with junior Haley Bloom (Hauppauge, N.Y.) giving the Black and Gold a 10-3 advantage with six ticks left in the opening frame.

Out of the intermission, though, USC would outscore the Bulldogs, 5-1, in the opening 19 minutes, slimming the home side's lead down to 11-8 with 10:57 left in the contest. Rookie Lauren Descalzo (Hauppauge, N.Y.) got the only Bryant tally in the stretch at the 23:52 mark, assisted by Bloom, while de Lyra and Paige Bonomi each scored twice for the visitors.

But de Lyra's unassisted tally — the Trojans' eighth goal of the day — would also be their last, as Bryant scored four more in unanswered fashion for the 15-8 final.

Descalzo, Sniffen, Bloom, Burns and Katherine Keckeisen (Danbury, Conn.) would all finish the game with two scores, while Bloom added a game-best three assists for a five-point day. The Bulldogs outshot the Trojans, 28-18, including posting a 17-8 margin in the opening 30 minutes, as junior netminder Brianna Watt (Babylon, N.Y.) made seven stops to get the win. USC beat out Bryant on the draw, 15-10, but the Bulldogs won out on the ground, doubling up their opponents in ground balls, 16-8.

Tuesday's win gave the Bulldogs back-to-back victories for the first time on the young 2013 season, and Bryant looks to earn its first winning streak in its next outing, when the Black and Gold open Northeast Conference play on the road at Robert Morris Friday, March 22 (3 p.m.).