Bryant faces off against Syracuse in NCAA First Round Sunday night in Carrier Dome

BULLDOGS TAKE ON TOP-SEEDED SYRACUSE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT DEBUT SUNDAY AT 7:30 P.M.

FULL GAME NOTES
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Bulldogs make their NCAA Division I Tournament debut against top-seeded BIG EAST champion Syracuse University in the tournament's opening round Sunday night. The Northeast Conference regular-season and tournament champion, Bryant earned an AQ into the NCAA Championship with a 14-7 win over Robert Morris in the NEC title bout last Saturday. Sunday's contest is slated to faceoff at 7:30 p.m. from the Carrier Dome.

MAKING HISTORY
The contest is not just the first DI NCAA tournament appearance for the Bulldog men's lacrosse program, it also marks the first NCAA tournament appearance for a Bryant team in any sport at the Division I level. Bryant University began the transition to Division I in 2008-09 and became full DI members on September 1, 2012, following the completion of a mandatory four-year transition process. The 2013 campaign is just the third season the Bulldog men's lacrosse team has been eligible for the DI dance and the first in which it could claim an automatic berth.

THE SERIES
Sunday marks the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Orange.

SCOUTING THE ORANGE
Syracuse makes its 33rd trip to the NCAA tournament in 2013 and is 62-21 all-time in the postseason with a 13-3 season record entering Sunday's opening round. The 11-time national champion enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the ninth time and the second time in the last three seasons after winning the BIG EAST Tournament title and is ranked No. 2 in both the latest USILA Coaches Poll and Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.

The Orange are led by Tewaaraton Trophy finalist JoJo Marasco's 61 points (18 goals, 35 assists), while both Derek Maltz (28) and Luke Cometti (26) boast more than 20 goals on the year. Syracuse averages 12 goals per game and has gotten at least one point from 21 different sources in 2013. Dominic Lamolinara enters tournament play with a 10-2 record between the pipes, and the 11-game starter has 105 saves with an 8.43 goals against average and .538 save percentage. At the faceoff X, Chris Daddio and Cal Paduda have shared the duties, with the former going 109-for-227 (.480) with 35 ground balls.

BRYANT vs. THE BIG EAST
Sunday's game marks the second meeting between the Bulldogs and a team from the BIG EAST, and Bryant looks to even its 2013 record against the conference at 1-1. Earlier this season, Bryant fell to Providence College, 10-9, for the first time despite leading for most of the contest. All-time, the program is 3-1 against the BIG EAST, with all four matchups coming against the Friars.

PRESSLER RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT
Seventh-year head coach Mike Pressler makes his 14th NCAA tournament appearance in 2013 but first since taking over the helm at Bryant. Before arriving in Smithfield, Pressler brought his Duke program to the dance 10 times, including an appearance in the 2005 national championship, and prior to that led Ohio Wesleyan to three-straight Division III title games.

EVEN KEEL
The Bulldogs have been consistent all season long when it comes to the timing of their scoring. The Black and Gold have scored the most tallies in the second quarter this season, with 49 tallies coming in the second stanza, but that number trumps the team's first- and fourth-quarter totals by only a single marker (48). There isn't much of a drop off in the third frame, either, during which Bryant has netted 41 goals this season. The third is, however, the only period in which the Bulldogs have been outscored by their opponents, 43-41. Bryant owns a slight margin in the second (49-42) and fourth (48-42) quarters, but the team has made a habit of jumping out on opponents early, having outscored its foes by double figures, 48-34, in the opening 15 minutes.

GROUND AND POUND
One of the Bulldogs' top strengths comes in the ground ball game, where Bryant is ranked second in the nation with 39.44 per game. Bryant also boasts the top ground ball man in the country in sophomore faceoff specialist Kevin Massa. Massa enters Sunday's matchup with an NCAA single-season record 223 ground balls, already having shattered the previous mark of 194, set by Geoff Snider in 2006. Massa became the first Division I player to ever eclipse the 200-ground ball mark in a season and currently averages 12.39 per outing, a pace that should shatter the current NCAA ground balls per game record (11.41) at season's end as well. As a team, the Bulldogs boast three players ranked in the nation's top-100 in ground balls per game, with senior defenseman Glenn Maiorano (3.53—71st) and junior midfielder Alex Zomerfeld (3.11—96th) joining Massa. This season, Bryant has lost the ground ball margin in just a single outing, allowing Mount St. Mary's 30 to Bryant's 25. In the 17 contests in which the Black and Gold won the battle on the ground, Bryant's average margin is +14.59 ground balls per game.

MORE ON MASSA
Sophomore faceoff specialist Kevin Massa also paces the country in faceoff wins (293) and faceoff winning percentage (.713). The NCAA single-season faceoff record currently stands at 311, leaving the Bulldogs' sophomore phenom just 18 shy of tying — and 19 short of breaking — yet another standing Division I record. Massa has won 19 or more faceoffs in a game six times already this season and nine times in his short career. The second-year Bulldog has been well rewarded for his stellar campaign when it comes postseason recocognitions, too. Named both the Northeast Conference and NEILA All-New England Player of the Year, Massa was a unanimous all-league first team pick in addition to earning NEILA First Team accolades.

PRESSLER EARNS 300TH-CAREER VICTORY
WIth a 17-7 victory over Quinnipiac at home on March 30, 2013, Bryant University head coach Mike Pressler became just the 13th coach in NCAA history to record his 300th-career win. The milestone came in just his 441st game and 29th season as a head coach, and he is among the fastest to earn the landmark win. Pressler enters Sunday's game with 306 total victories, fifth-most among active Division I coaches, and ranks 11th all-time among head coaches throughout all three divisions. His .682 winning percentage as a head coach (306-143) ranks sixth overall among active bench bosses.

A two-time National Coach of the Year recipient who also led the U.S. Men's National Team to gold at the ILF World Championships in 2010, Pressler has been named a conference coach of the year six times and has led his teams to seven league titles, 14 NCAA tournament berths and four national championship games, including the 2005 Division I title bout. Pressler is 77-41 (.653) in his seven seasons with the Bulldogs and 52-33 (.612) since Bryant made the jump to Division I (2009).

BULLDOGS BOAST NEC PLAYER, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, GARNER 14 ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Headlined by the selections of sophomore faceoff specialist Kevin Massa as the 2013 Northeast Conference Player of the Year and Shane Morrell as the NEC Rookie of the Year, the Bryant University men's lacrosse team saw 10 of its own earn all-conference honors, as announced league officials May 1. Bulldogs made up more than half of the 13 all-league first team picks, as seven Bryant players took home top team honors. Unanimous selections Massa and senior LSM Mason Poli were joined on the first team by Morrell, junior midfielders Colin Dunster and Alex Zomerfeld, junior defenseman Matt MacGrotty and senior defenseman Glenn Maiorano. Senior attack Peter McMahon and sophomore goalie Gunnar Waldt were tabbed as All-NEC Second Team honorees, while Morrell, Waldt and freshman first-line middie Collins Gantz garnered spots on the NEC All-Rookie Team.

POLI NAMED TEWAARATON SEMIFINALIST
For the second-straight year, senior longstick midfielder Mason Poli has been named a semifinalist for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award. The only player from the Northeast Conference to be named among the 25 nominees, Poli has 22 points on the strength of 14 goals and eight assists and earned his third-straight All-NEC First Team selection in 2013.

PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
Bryant may have started the season on a 0-7 drought, but the Black and Gold are 8-3 over their last 11 outings after getting their first win of the year March 23 at Stony Brook. The Bulldogs enter the NCAA tournament on a three-game winning streak dating to April 27 and have outscored opponents, 37-23, during the stretch.

POLE POWER
Senior longstick midfielder Mason Poli leads the nation in longpole scoring, both this season and in his career. In 2013, Poli is sixth on the Bryant roster in scoring with 22 points off 14 goals and eight assists, and the All-NEC and All-New England First Teamer has a whopping 61-career points off an impressive 44 goals and 17 assists. The next most prolific pole has 18 fewer points and 15 fewer goals than Poli, who is a two-time All-America Honorable Mention and 2013 Preseason Third Team All-American. Poli was drafted 27th overall (fourth round) by the Charlotte Hounds in the 2013 Major League Lacrosse Draft.

HAT TRICK HEAVEN
Two-time senior captain and four-year starting attack Peter McMahon has hit his stride as of late and enters the NCAA tournament riding a three-game hat trick streak. Since April 27, McMahon has nine goals and four assists for 16 points and was named the NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player after scoring 10 points (6g, 4a) on the two-game set.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
It has been a bit of a family affair in the Bulldog locker room under head coach Mike Pressler, who has seen five families of brothers pass through his roster in Smithfield. The only tandem that remains is senior and sophomore defensemen Glenn and Kevin Maiorano, who for the last two seasons also shared a locker room with big brother Rob, who graduated in 2012. Senior defenseman Michael Rauchut and senior middie Kyle Crowley also joined the team when their older brothers were on the squad (Joe Rauchut, 2008-11; Gary Crowley, 2008-11), as did current junior attack Dan Sipperly (Trever Sipperly, 2011). Sipperly's redshirt-freshman linemate Shane Morrell came to Bryant just one season after his brother, Ryan, had graduated (2011).

Three more family connections go back to the head coach himself. A dual-sport athlete at Washington & Lee, Pressler played college lacrosse under legendary coach Jack Emmer, whose son, Patrick Emmer, now plays for Pressler's Bulldogs. Pressler also played football at W&L, where he lined up for head coach Gary Fallon — the grandfather of current senior All-American Mason Poli. Fallon also connects Pressler and Bryant to Sunday's foe, as Poli's grandfather lettered for the Orange on the gridiron from 1959-61, helping Syracuse win its only national football title in 1959.

Senior captain Peter McMahon also hails from Pressler's hometown of Wilton, Conn.