Bryant struggles to find offense, falls to Drexel, 7-5, Friday on road

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's lacrosse team scored the final four goals of Friday's contest, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 5-0 Drexel start as the Bulldogs fell to the Dragons, 7-5, in Philadelphia.

After a scoreless first quarter and quiet opening 10 minutes of the second, Drexel (1-4) finally broke through the Bryant (3-4) defense, getting a goal from Cole Shafer with 5:58 left in the half. Shafer would score a hat trick for the Dragons – with goals by Reid Bowering and Chris Friedman between his scores – to put the hosts on top, 5-0, before the Bulldogs would even get on the board.

Junior midfielder Tom Kennedy (Farmingdale, N.Y.) finally got the scoring started for Black and Gold with 8:31 to play in the third, but the Dragons would respond with two more tallies to close out the quarter with a 7-1 lead from which the Bulldogs couldn't recover.

In the fourth, senior Tucker James (Essex Fells, N.J.) closed the deficit to 7-2 in unassisted fashion with 13 minutes left in regulation, and linemate Cam Ziegler (Carlsbad, Calif.) netted a man-up goal (assisted by Kennedy) 36 seconds later.

Rookie Kevin Quigley (Fairfax Station, Va.) made it 7-4 less than two minutes later with 10:29 still to play, but the Dragons would hold a charging Bulldog offense at bay until the 1:11 mark, when frosh attack Jake Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) broke through for the last score of the game in the 7-5 final margin.

The Bulldogs were not without possessions, though, as junior faceoff specialist Kenny Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) won 12-of-16 from the faceoff X in a strong outing for the visitors. He went 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter alone and added six ground balls. Junior goalie James Werner (New Rochelle, N.Y.) turned away nine in the loss.

Bryant outshot Drexel, 38-25, on the day, including a 16-3 margin in the fourth, and won the ground ball game, 27-23. The Bulldogs struggled with turnovers again Friday night, as both teams fought through snowy conditions, giving the ball away 21 times while going 17-of-19 on clears.

Drexel netminder Jimmy Joe Granito made nine saves, while Michael Meurer led the game with three caused turnovers. The Bulldogs got two caused turnovers apiece from James, junior defenseman Anthony Johnson (Fairfield, Conn.) (3 ground balls) and senior LSM Jared Kaden (Martinsville, N.J.).

Bryant will look to rebound when it returns home to host Siena Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.