#12/10 Stony Brook tops Bryant, 13-6

Bulldogs can't hang on to halftime lead, fall to nationally ranked Seawolves on the road Saturday 

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Three goals from senior Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) and a 4-3 halftime lead weren't enough to keep the Bryant University men's lacrosse team on top as No. 12/10 Stony Brook came storming back in the final two periods for a 13-6 victory at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Bryant (3-5) jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second frame and would hold on for a one-point edge at the break despite a goal from Stony Brook star Kevin Crowley with just a second to play before the intermission. But the Seawolves (4-3) offense would come out renewed for the final 30 minutes of action, outscoring the Bulldogs, 10-2, including a 7-1 margin in the third quarter for the eventual victory.

Crowley started the Bulldogs off with a 1-0 edge less than three minutes into the game before Russ Bonanno knotted the score with under five minutes to go in the opening session. Bryant would score twice more in the closing 2:30 of the first with another tally from Crowley and the third goal of the year from rookie Kevin Sherrill (Charlotte, N.C.) for a 3-1 advantage 15 minutes in.

Junior Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) opened the second period with an unassisted score to put Bryant up, 4-1, but back-to-back Kevin Crowley goals sent the home side to the locker room with just a one-goal deficit and all the momentum.

Stony Brook came out in the third on a four-goal tear over a less than five-minute span and would score eight of the next nine goals in the contest, a run broken up only by a Gary Crowley man-up score with 6:05 to play in the third that cut the Seawolves' lead to 7-5.

The home side would then score three goals in the closing three minutes of the stanza to take a 10-5 advantage into the fourth quarter.

After a Timmy Trenkle score at the 9:12 mark, Weisenberg came up with Bryant's second extra-man tally of the day to move the score to 11-6 in Stony Brook's favor, but it was the last time the Bulldogs would see the back of the net as the host Seawolves scored twice more before the score went final.

The nationally ranked Seawolves outshot the Bulldogs by a margin of 32-22 and nearly doubled their visitors in the ground ball game, 34-18. Adam Rand, who won 12-of-22 faceoffs on the day, picked up a game-best eight ground balls for the home side. Grad student Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) went 10-of-22 from the faceoff X for the Black and Gold.

Both teams were strong on the clear, with Stony Brook completing all 15 clear attempts and Bryant going 12-for-14 on the afternoon. Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) made eight saves between the pipes for the Bulldogs, as did Seawolves netminder Rob Camposa. Sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) recorded all three of the Bulldogs' assists in the outing.

Bryant will now have six days off before returning to Smithfield, R.I. for the team's first official Northeast Conference men's lacrosse game, a 7 p.m. matchup with rival Quinnipiac on Friday, April 1 at the Bryant Turf Complex.