Bulldogs set for NEC tournament

NEC TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTERS

The Bryant University men's lacrosse team will begin their first ever Division I postseason campaign this evening, with a very familiar match-up against Mount St. Mary's.

The Bulldogs (8-8, 3-2 NEC) clinched a berth in the Northeast Conference Tournament as the #4 seed with a 9-8 double overtime victory last Saturday, handing that same Mount St. Mary's  (7-6, 4-1) team their only loss in conference play this year. On Friday, the top-seeded Mountaineers will stand in the way of Bryant yet again, as they look to secure a place in the NEC Tournament Championship.

As the #1 seed, Mount St. Mary's will host the entire tournament, meaning the Bulldogs are back in Emmitsburg, Maryland for the second time in a week, and hoping their second trip is every bit as successful as the first.

Needing a win in their final regular season match to assure a playoff berth, the Bulldogs came out on top of the Mountaineers in a back and forth affair. Mount St. Mary's held a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, but Bryant stormed back with five different players finding the back of the net in the second quarter to hand the visitors a 5-4 lead at halftime.

The two sides continued to exchange goals after the break and Bryant took an 8-7 lead on Gary Crowley's (Scituate, Mass.) second goal of the night with under two minutes left in the final quarter. That was far from the last action of the game, however, as the Mountaineers equalized with a minute to go as Andrew Scalley, the squad's top scorer who ranks second in the NEC in goals per game (2.31), scored his third goal of the night.

The Bulldogs would take control in the overtime as Evan Roberts (West Cornwell, Vt.) eventually netted the game-winner with his second goal of the game just over a minute into the second overtime period.

For the Bulldogs, the tournament field could hardly be more intriguing. Should Bryant advance past Mount St. Mary's they are guaranteed to face yet another opponent with whom their previous matchup was decided by just a single goal. The Bulldogs fell 13-12 on a buzzer-beating goal to second seeded Quinnipiac on April 1, and came up just short in a 16-15 loss to Robert Morris back on April 23.

To be successful the Bulldogs will rely on their conference-leading defense to keep their opponent's high-powered offense in check. Bryant goalkeeper Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) leads the conference with a 8.43 goals against average, but he has been  aided by a defense that has done well all season in limiting opponent's shot attempts.

The defense will have their work cut out for them on Friday against a Mountaineers offense that has three players ranked in the top 5 in the NEC in scoring. In addition to Scalley's success, attackers Brett Schmidt and Cody Lehrer rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the in the conference in goals per game.

While the goal scoring for the Bulldogs have come from 20 different players this season, a few stand out the most among the rest. Crowley, the NEC Offensive Player of the Year for 2011, leads the team and is currently tenth in the conference with a 1.75 goals scored per game average and 28 overall goals. Junior Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) has tallied 19 goals along with 13 assists and sophomore Peter McMahon (Wilton, Conn.) leads the conference with 28 assists in addition to his 18 goals.

Bryant's semifinal match-up with Mount St. Mary's is set to start Friday at 7 p.m. The NEC Championship match takes place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.