Bulldogs let loose on Wagner, 19-9

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bulldogs never trailed Saturday against Northeast Conference opponent Wagner College despite being on the road, as junior Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) scored a game-high four goals and two other Bulldogs recorded hat tricks to lead the Bryant men's lacrosse team to a 19-9 victory.

Senior John Truscello (Holbrook, N.Y.) and junior Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) each recorded three tallies, as the trio combined to score more than half of Bryant's total goals. Sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) assisted on a contest-best four scores on the day, as 11 different Bulldogs (5-6, 1-1 NEC) recorded at least one goal and 14 registered a point in the win.

"We spread the wealth," said head coach Mike Pressler. "A lot of guys got in the scoring column and a lot of guys who normally don't had multi-point games, and that was great to see."

The Bulldogs scored early and often on the host Seahawks (0-9, 0-2) in the opening two frames, tallying 13 scores before the halftime break. Bryant led in nearly every statistical category, including outshooting Wagner, 44-27, in the affair.

Fifth-year senior Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) dominated at the faceoff, winning 22-of-26 from the X as the Bulldogs won 24 of the 28 total faceoffs in the contest. The grad student picked up a game-best 13 ground balls, as the Black and Gold won the ground ball battle, 25-8.

"We came out and started the game ready to play," said Pressler. "The key thing for us was that Trever Sipperly was so dominant at the faceoff X that we had the ball for the entire game."

Senior midfielder Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) got the scoring started with a goal just over three minutes into the contest, and the Bulldogs exploded for three tallies over an 85-second stretch for a 3-0 edge.

Harrington gave Bryant a 4-0 advantage with his first score of the day at the 6:38 mark of the opening session before Wagner put itself on the board with a tally from Colin O'Rourke.

But the home side would get no momentum out of the score, as Weisenberg responded six seconds later to restore the four-goal edge. Truscello added his second score of the contest to close out the quarter, but the Bulldogs would pick up right where they left off in the second frame, scoring four more times in the opening three minutes of the period to take a 10-1 advantage with 12:09 still to play before the half.

But Wagner wouldn't lie down despite the deficit, controlling much of the play over the next five minutes to score four-consecutive tallies and draw within five with under four minutes to play.

Weisenberg and rookie Alex Zomerfeld (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) added scores in response, and Bryant frosh Dan Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) registered a man-up tally one second before halftime to send the teams to the locker room with a 13-5 score in favor of the visitors.

Out of the intermission, though, it was Wagner who would get the first word, as Sam Morrissey netted an unassisted tally at the 12:43 mark. Morrissey would score again with 7:39 showing on the third-quarter clock after a Colin Dunster (Cos Cob, Conn.) goal for the visitors and would record the only hat trick for the Seahawks in the outing.

Two more Bulldog goals restored a nine-goal lead, 16-7, and the teams would exchange tallies for a 17-8 score entering the final 15 minutes of action.

In the final stanza, JK Poirier (Coatesville, Pa.) and Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) tacked on goals, as did Wagner's O'Rourke, but the lowest scoring frame of the day would end the game in a 19-9 Bryant win.

A pair of Wagner goalies combined for 12 saves, as Nicholas Gabaldi (10 saves) took the loss, while Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) and Alec Rosenbruch (Nashua, N.H.) each recorded a trio of stops in the game.

"It was great to get everybody in, and we were able to empty the bench early in the second half to get guys in who haven't played a lot," said Pressler. "It is good to have our first official NEC win and to be 1-1 in the league, and now we get ready for Holy Cross on Tuesday."

The Bulldogs host the Crusaders at the Bryant Turf Complex Tuesday at 7 p.m.