Men's lax goes streaking with 13-8 win

Bulldogs win third straight for first winning streak of the season, top Holy Cross handily at home Tuesday

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) registered five points and the home side led the whole way through as the Bryant University men's lacrosse team earned its third-consecutive victory, 13-8, over regional rival Holy Cross Tuesday night at the Bryant Turf Complex.

The win marks the Bulldogs' first winning streak of the season and evens Bryant's record to 6-6 entering the year's final stretch. McMahon's trio of goals, compliments by a pair of assists, were a game high and stood as his first hat trick of the season, as the second-year attacker led nine Bryant goal scorers and was one of 11 to notch a point for the Black and Gold in the outing.

After jumping out to a three-goal lead early in the second frame, highlighted by the first-career goal of senior starting defenseman Joe Rauchut (Philadelphia, Pa.), the Bulldogs saw Holy Cross (1-11) close the gap to just one in less than a minute's time, as back-to-back unassisted scores by Matt Boylan and John Hannan moved the score to 3-2.

With the Crusaders threatening, the Bulldog offense – and a bit of their defense – answered the call, tallying three more goals in just a 21-second span to take a 6-2 advantage. Scores from Dan Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) and Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.), both assisted by McMahon, came just six ticks apart, and sophomore defenseman Mason Poli (Downingtown, Pa.) kicked off his big day with an unassisted tally 15 seconds later. The Bulldogs would take a 6-3 edge into the halftime break.

McMahon, who scored the game's first goal, opened up the third with consecutive unaided tallies less than two minutes apart to extend Bryant's lead to five, 8-3, but James Kennedy wiped it away 70 seconds later with his 13^th goal of the season.

Sipperly would get on the board again for the Bulldogs with only a minute left on the third-period clock, sniping a ground ball from the Crusader defense for a one-on-one look from the doorstep that he would make good on to take a 9-4 advantage into the final quarter.

The final 15 minutes would be the most prolific for visiting Holy Cross, scoring four goals to match the home team's efforts, but the Crusaders couldn't make up any ground as tallies from Bo Redpath (Norwich, Vt.), Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.), Matt Bletzer (Medfield, Mass.) and JK Poirier (Coatesville, Pa.) upped Bryant's score for the 13-8 final.

A combined 10 penalties would be called in the contest, resulting in a trio of man-cup goals, all coming in the fourth stanza as the Bulldogs went 1-for-3 with the extra man. The hosts outshot their visitors, 36-26, with two periods of double-digit shots, and Bryant nearly doubled up Holy Cross in ground balls, 40-21, paced by a team-high five from Sipperly.

The Bulldogs caused an impressive 14 of Holy Cross's 21 turnovers, an opportunity Poli took particular advantage of, recording a game-high and career-best six caused turnovers with a quartet of ground balls to compliment his second-period score. Senior defenseman Ryan Mahoney (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) would collect a trio of caused turnovers with four ground balls as well.

At the faceoff X, it was senior Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) who was called upon after Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y.) struggled to start out the contest, and Roberts would go 10-for-14 on the day after picking up a pair of assists. Bryant would just edge out the Crusaders at the X, winning 13 of the 25 faceoffs.

Between the pipes, junior Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) kept the Crusaders off the board for much of the game, making 10 stops, including five in the third to get the win. Holy Cross netminder Mike Fisher made 11 saves despite the loss.

Bryant has one final non-conference game to play in 2011, but the team will have to return to Northeast Conference action first, as it travels to Fairfield, Conn. for a Saturday night matchup with the Pioneers of Sacred Heart (7 p.m.).