Bulldogs stymied in the home opener, fall to Aggies, 12-7, Friday afternoon

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's lacrosse team had difficulty finding a rhythm on the offensive end, scoring fewer than eight goals for just the fourth time since 2013 in its 12-7 loss to UC Davis on Friday at the Bryant Turf Complex.

Eight Bulldogs (1-1) registered points, though only two had multi-point efforts. Junior midfielder Ali Cardinal (Schenectady, N.Y.) paced the Black and Gold with three points, all coming in the second half, off two goals in a 30-second span and one assist. Senior attack Nicole Britton (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) found the back of net twice, while fellow senior Lauren Descalzo (Hauppauge, N.Y.), sophomore Catlin Brown (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Jess DeMeo (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) fired in a goal apiece in the loss.

Of the six Aggies (1-0) to stat points, five tallied multiple points and three posted hat tricks. Courtney Neff, Taylor Cuenin and Ellie Delich each put three shots between the pipes, with Delich adding one helper. Mary Doyle delivered a contest-high four assists, three of which were to Shannon Cross (2 goals) and Sam Axenroth (1g).

After leading for nearly the full 60 minutes in the season opener against Vermont, the Bulldogs trailed for over 55 minutes in the home opener against a stingy Aggie side. UC Davis was meticulous offensively, controlling the ball for long stretches in its attacking third.

The visitors got the scoring started in the opening minute on a Neff goal that was set up by Doyle. Brown initiated the scoring for the Bulldogs just 51 seconds later to tie the game, 1-1, but the Aggies pulled away over the next 20 minutes of the first half, scoring four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 edge.

Britton netted her first goal of the game with 4:44 to play in the opening half for the final score of the stanza, sending the Black and Gold into the locker room with a 5-2 deficit.  

The Aggies answered with the first two goals of the second frame, with Delich scoring her first of the day at the 27:05 mark and Neff completing her hat trick four minutes later to make it 7-2.

Cardinal almost single handedly brought the Bulldogs back into the contest from there, scoring all three of her points over the ensuing seven minutes. Cardinal buried a free position shot with 21:45 to go, then received a high pass from Meaghan Brennan (Glen Head, N.Y.) just outside of the crease 26 seconds later to put her second of the year past the Aggie goalie to make it 7-4.

Cardinal was not finished, as the junior lobbed a pass from behind the net to find DeMeo just a few feet in front of the goal. The rookie was able convert the shot on target to cut the deficit to two, 7-5, in favor of UC Davis with 16:50 on the clock.

The Black and Gold had their chances to trim the deficit further, but missed shots and costly turnovers allowed the Aggies to withstand the comeback. Cross ended UC Davis's 12-minute scoring drought at the 11:24 mark, and it was the first of three-consecutive Aggie goals, as the visitors again grabbed a five-score advantage with 8:26 to play.

The two sides exchanged a pair of goals from there, resulting in the 12-7 margin when the final horn sounded.

On the day the Bulldogs were outshot by the Aggies, 23-19, and outworked on the draw control, 13-8, as Shannon Geary won six draws to lead all performers.

Sophomore netminders Samantha Santeramo (Wantagh, N.Y.) (4 saves) and Daja Andrews (Lumberton, N.J.) (3 saves) combined to send back seven shot attempts, as Santeramo recorded her first loss of the year. Lauren Ali denied four shots on goal in her complete game win.  

Bryant will look to shake off the defeat before taking the road for the next contest, playing at Holy Cross on Feb. 23 at 4:00 p.m.