Bryant battles No. 5 UNC Tuesday morning
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Bryant University men's lacrosse team faces a top-five opponent for the first time since 2017 when the Bulldogs square off with No. 5 North Carolina Tuesday morning in Chapel Hill.
The Bulldogs look for their third-straight win when they face an undefeated Tar Heel team in a game on ACC Network Extra.
The Particulars
Opponent: No. 5 North Carolina
Location: Dorrance Field (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Date and Time: Tuesday, March 10 – 11 a.m.
Watch: ACC Network Extra (Matt Krause, Dave Lohse)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Game Notes: Bryant
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #GoBryant | #NECMLax
SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS
UNC ranks fourth in the nation in goals per game (17.83), first in assists (12.33), second in scoring margin (+8.83) and first in man-up offense (.762). The Tar Heels have scored 14 or more goals in all six games to open 2020, including a 24-goal output against Lafayette that ranks fourth in the nation this season.
The UNC attack has been led by Boston University transfer Chris Gray, whose 23 goals and 17 assists place him fourth in the nation in points per game. Six Tar Heels have scored 10 or more goals this season. UNC has held opponents to 9.00 goals per game with Caton Johnson factoring into all six victories.
THE SERIES
Bryant is 0-2 all-time against North Carolina with both contests decided by one-goal margins. The teams last met in 2015, when a 6-0 Tar Heel team ranked No. 2 in the nation came back in the fourth quarter to spoil a Bryant upset bid.
RISING TO THE OCCASION
Bryant has five wins over teams ranked in the USILA Top 10 since the Bulldogs' jump to Division I in 2009. Bryant is 3-1 in its last four games against top-10 teams with a win over No. 7 Yale in 2017 along with victories over No. 2 Brown and No. 8 Harvard in 2016.
LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 15, STONY BROOK 11
Junior Marc O'Rourke (Hingham, Mass.) scored seven goals, breaking Bryant's Division I single-game record and matching the all-time program mark for goals in a game, as Bryant knocked off Stony Brook Saturday at Beirne Stadium.
MARC O, GOAL-O
O'Rourke scored seven goals in Saturday's win over Stony Brook, breaking the D1 single-game record of six held by himself, Tucker James, Zack Greer, Ryan Cerino and Bryan Kaufmann. It was the third career game of 6+ goals for O'Rourke, who scored six against Fairfield in 2019 and vs. Mount St. Mary's in 2018.
O'Rourke's seven-goal output Saturday matched the all-time record held by Jon Yuengling, who scored seven times in a 2004 win over Saint Anselm.
SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN
Sophomore Luke Caracciolo (Centreville, Va.) made a career-high 18 saves in Saturday's win over Stony Brook. The 18-save performance ranked tied for third in a game in Bryant's Division I history.
Caracciolo and the Bryant defense, with four ground balls and two caused turnovers from junior Ryan Baker (Draper, Utah), held the Seawolves to 11 goals, matching their season low.
CAUSING TROUBLE FOR THE OPPOSITION
Redshirt-sophomore Dante Pasqualoni (South Windsor, Conn.) ranks third in the NEC and 33rd nationally with 1.67 caused turnovers on the year. Pasqualoni's efforts have helped Bryant hold its last three opponents to 8.67 goals per game.
ON THE UP AND UP
Redshirt-freshman Logan McGovern (Darien, Conn.) has scored five man-up goals in his first nine contests as a Bulldog. McGovern, who notched two last season against Providence before a season-ending injury in the following contest, has one man-up goal in three of Bryant's last five games and added a man-down goal in Saturday's win.
JAKE'S 2020 VISION
Redshirt-senior Jake Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) ranks second on the Bulldogs with 16 goals and has added four assists in his first six games of the year, flying past his goal (3) and point (6) totals from 2019.
Buonaiuto, who had one career four-goal game entering the year, scored four times in each of Bryant's first two contests of 2020. He is the first Bulldog with back-to-back games of four or more goals since Marc O'Rourke tallied six and five in the first two conference games of the 2018 season.
365 AND COUNTING
Head coach Mike Pressler ranks seventh among active NCAA coaches in all divisions with 365 career victories. Of those 365, 136 have come while leading the Bulldogs since 2007. Among active Division I coaches, only John Danowski (Duke) and Bill Tierney (Denver) have more career victories.
UP NEXT: SAINT JOSEPH'S
Bryant returns home to open NEC play when the Bulldogs host Saint Joseph's Saturday at noon at Beirne Stadium.
Tickets for the 2020 Bryant University men's lacrosse season are available HERE.
Follow Bryant University men's lacrosse on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get an inside look at the program.