No. 16/11 Army tops Bulldogs, 12-7, at home

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior Jeremy Boltus scored seven points while Garrett Thul chipped in a game-best four goals to lead No. 11/16 Army past the Bryant University men's lacrosse team, 12-7, Friday afternoon at the Bryant Turf Complex, handing the Bulldogs their second loss in as many games.

The game was tight throughout, but the Bulldogs (2-2) struggled to harness the offensive power of Boltus, who finished the game with a hat trick and four assists, and Thul.

Bryant looked good out of the gates, though, taking a 1-0 lead 67 seconds into the contest with the man advantage when rookie Matt Bletzer (Medfield, Mass.) hooked up with senior Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) from the right side for a diving shot from the doorstep that got past Army goalie Tom Palesky.

But the Bulldogs would have difficulty getting past Palesky again from there, as the Black Knight (3-2) offense took the home side for three goals in just over six minutes for a 3-1 edge. Boltus played a role in two of the goals, and would finish the half with four points (3 goals, 1 assist).

The Bulldogs cut their deficit in half at the 2:55 mark, when rookie Dan Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) – the youngest of three brothers playing the game – scored his second collegiate goal from Rob Stufano (Garden City, N.Y.), but Thul would get it back for Army before the end of the frame to enter the second session with a 4-2 edge.

Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) netted his only points of the game nearly 10 minutes into the second period, spinning around a defender and putting the ball past Palesky off a strong feed from sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.).

But every time the Bulldogs chipped away, the Black Knights responded, and this was no exception, as Boltus scored back-to-back goals just eight seconds apart to send the visitors into halftime with a 6-3 lead.

Out of the break, Bryant looked as though it was ready to take back the momentum, cutting Army's advantage to just a single goal in the first minute of play with tallies from Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) and Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.). But again, the Black Knights had an answer, in the form of three-straight goals over the next four minutes, two from Conor Hayes and a third from Jay Laing to run the scoreboard to 9-5 in favor of the visitors.

Crowley scored again at the 5:07 mark of the third to break up Army's offensive streak, but not for long. Back-to-back unassisted scores from Thul closed out the frame and the Black Knights made it three straight with a Rob McCallion tally with 7:31 to play in the final quarter.

Rookie Kevin Sherrill (Charlotte, N.C.) would take on an unassisted goal with 31 seconds to play to bring the score to 12-7, but the margin would go final as Bryant suffered its first home loss of 2011.

On the day, Bryant outshot Army, 36-29, including a 12-3 margin in the fourth period, and won the ground ball battle, 31-22. The Bulldogs dominated the faceoff X, with Trever Sipperly facing off against his own brother, Army junior faceoff specialist Derek Sipperly, 21 times and winning 13 of them to go 14-of-22 on the day. Freshman Bruce Pirie (Oakland, N.J.) would win his only faceoff of the contest to complete the team's 15-of-23 day from the X. All three Sipperly brothers would record a point in the contest.

Junior netminder Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) made six stops in goal for the home side while picking up a team-high four ground balls. Bryant caused eight Army turnovers, paced by two from Greg Lehane (Southlake, Texas).

The Bulldogs won't have time to dwell on the loss, though, as they get set to take on another opponent receiving national attention in Drexel on the road in Philadelphia. Bryant will take on the Dragons Sunday at noon.