Vermont hands Bryant first loss, 7-5

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) scored a goal with 15 seconds to play before halftime to give the Bryant University men's lacrosse team a 4-3 edge, but the Bulldogs couldn't hold on for the win as the University of Vermont outscored Bryant, 4-1, in the final two periods for a 7-5 victory Saturday afternoon in Burlington, Vt.

Crowley's goal gave the Bulldogs their first and only lead of the contest, but it would be short lived, as Vermont's Geoff Worley tied the score at 4-4 just 2:31 into the third quarter. Drew Philie would break the deadlock – one of five on the day – with 4:35 to go in the third, and while senior Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) would score his second tally of the game nearly eight minutes into the final frame to even out the scoreboard at 5-5, it would be the final goal for Bryant (2-1), who couldn't keep the home side off the board in the final seven minutes to suffer its first defeat of the season.

Philie gave Vermont (3-1) the first score of the afternoon less than two minutes into Saturday's outing, and the two teams would trade goals for the remainder of the opening session en route to a 3-2 Catamount advantage. The visiting Bulldogs saw goals from Roberts and Dan Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) knot the score twice over the quarter before Luke Ryder found net with 59 seconds to play for the 3-2 home edge. Both Bryant goals were assisted by sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.), who scored a goal of his own with 3:31 to play in the second stanza for the third knot of the game, 3-3.

Crowley's unassisted tally with 15 ticks to play before intermission sent the visitors to the locker room with back-to-back scores and a fresh lead, 4-3. But just as Bryant had done in the second, Vermont scored the only two goals of the third to retake the one-score edge, 5-4, heading into the final 15 minutes of the contest.

Roberts capped off a strong day with another tally to make the score 5-5, but Kyle Sminkey would respond for the home team to score the eventual game winner, and A.J. Masson tacked on one last tally with just nine seconds to play for the 7-5 final.

"Overall, I thought we played hard today, and we were certainly ready to play," said Bryant head coach Mike Pressler. "But we are again seeing a trend that we ended last season on, and we wanted to turn that around out of the gates in 2011. That trend is that we are just not putting the ball in the net offensively. It's very frustrating and very disappointing.

"A positive trend, though, is that we are still playing the type of defense we were a year ago," he continued. "But Vermont is a very much improved team, and I knew this was going to be a battle. We just didn't have enough at the offensive end."

The Bulldog defense and junior netminder Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) held their opponent to single digits for the third-straight game, as Love made seven saves in the outing. But Love's counterpart had an even more impressive afternoon, posting 16 saves between the pipes, including seven in the final frame to hold out for the victory.

The Black and Gold also struggled for the first time this season at the faceoff X, winning just six of the 16 faceoff opportunities on the day.

"I think our other disappointment was our inability to win faceoffs," said Pressler. "We had to win faceoffs and we had to get to double digits [on offense], those were the goals going in, and we didn't accomplish either. When you have goals like that in your game plan and you don't achieve them, it takes a lot to win, and no question Vermont had a lot to do with that."

Graduate transfer Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) went just 3-for-12 from the faceoff X before turning the duties over to Roberts, who put forth arguably the most impressive performance of any Bulldog in a homecoming of sorts. The Vermont native went 3-for-4 from the X with a trio of ground balls to close out the game.

"I thought Evan Roberts, in front of a home crowd for him, was terrific today," said Pressler. "He was the only one at the offensive end that really played well. Defensively, Jameson was on his game again. There were a couple he probably could have had, but I just felt like we're not getting enough from other people.

"It's a tough loss, a disappointing loss, knowing what we have waiting for us," he added. "But with Army and Drexel coming up to finish off our spring break schedule, we have no time to feel sorry for ourselves or hang our heads. There are a lot of games here in March, and the next one's Army."

The Bulldogs will return home to host the Black Knights at the Bryant Turf Complex on Friday, March 11 at noon.