Bryant, Brown battle for Ocean State Cup Wednesday night in Providence

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's lacrosse team hits the road on Wednesday as it makes the short trip to Providence to face in-state rival Brown in the Ocean State Cup at 6:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs and Bears will be meeting for the eighth time in program history on Wednesday, with the Bears having won all seven of the previous meetings. Last season, Bryant made a furious late-game rally to pull within a goal but Brown turned away a free position chance with just eight seconds remaining to hang on for the win.

Brown enters the game with a 2-2 record, having lost its last two outings. The Bears opened the year with a 19-0 win over Sacred Heart and a victory over Holy Cross but have dropped back-to-back games to Louisville and Princeton. Brown averages 11 goals per game and is a perfect 2-0 on its home turf.

The Bears are led on offense by sophomore attack Hafsa Moinuddin who has 12 goals and two assists in the first four games. Classmate and middie Carolyn Paletta is second on the team with nine goals, while Zoe Verni has added five goals and an assist.

Junior Marissa Hudgins is the teams leader in ground balls (13) and caused turnovers (9), while Paletta also leads the team with 10 draw controls.

In net, junior Mikaela Karlsson has started all four games for Brown. She has posted a 6.96 GAA and a 59.7 save percentage on the year.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-8 victory over Vermont on Saturday and are averaging 10.3 goals per game on the year. Junior Catlin Brown (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Caitlin Breglia (Long Beach, N.Y.) lead the team with six goals and two assists each, while sophomore Jess DeMeo (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) has five goals and three assists.

Junior Samantha Santeramo (Wantagh, N.Y.) has started all three games in net for the Bulldogs and has posted a 9.20 GAA and a .425 save percentage.

FRESHMEN IMPACT

Bryant's freshmen class has made quite the impact in the first three games for the Bulldogs. Of the Bulldogs' 31 goals, 12 have come from rookies. Breglia is tied for the team lead with six, Maggie Pressler (Smithfield, R.I.) has four and Leah Nocera (Westwood, Mass.) has two.

CATS OUT OF THE BAG

Catlin Brown has found her offensive touch over the last seven games dating back to last season. She has recorded four hat tricks and scored a total of 19 goals over her last games, an average of 2.7 goals per game. Prior to the stretch, she had recorded 33 goals in 33 career games and just two hat tricks. 

GETTING CLOSER

The Bulldogs have had a tough time against the Bears since the first meeting in 2010. But, Bryant has closed the gap over the last few years. Brown won the first three games of the series by a combined score of 50-15, but three of the last four games have been decided by four goals or less.