Bulldogs fall short on Senior Day

Bryant honored its seven seniors prior to the start of Friday's game. (Athletic Communications photo)

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's soccer team scored an early second half goal and went on to take 14 shots in the stanza, but Fairleigh Dickinson used a pair of tallies by Dominic Reinhold to down the Bulldogs, 2-1, on senior day at Sutton Field Friday afternoon.

Norbert Guery (Andover, Mass.), Sean Kaukas (Glastonbury, Conn.), Erik Lekstrom (Worcester, Mass.), Dan Loreaux (Duxbury, Mass.), Jordan Martin (Bristol, Conn.), Tom Nelan (East Haddam, Conn.) and Victor Tutino (Deer park, N.Y.) were the seven seniors honored in the ceremony before the match.

With the loss, the Bulldogs drop to 4-9-2 on the season and 2-5-2 in the Northeast Conference while the Knights improve to 9-6-1 and 5-3-1 in the conference.

Fairleigh Dickinson opened the scoring the in 15th minute with Reinhold's first goal of the game. A throw-in by Kyle Saviano travelled through a line of Bulldog defenders where Reinhold was waiting to send a shot past Bryant keeper Tutino for the early lead.

Bryant wasted little time scoring after intermission as sophomore Ryan Stone (Wakefield, R.I.) netted the equalizer just 47 seconds into the second half. After Bryant took possession, a pass by Joseph DiMauro (Middletown, Conn.) skipped off a Knight defender but Stone collected the rebound and drilled the top right corner for his third goal of the season.

The Knights answered in the 54th minute when Reinhold launched a free kick that bounced over the head of Tutino and into the net for the game-winner.

Despite the go-ahead goal, the Bulldogs rebounded and controlled the remainder of the half, taking a total of ten corner kicks and outshooting the visitors by a margin of 14-2.

Bryant enjoyed several scoring chances in the waning minutes of regulation, including quality shots from Lekstrom, Guery and Terence Morrissey (Hingham, Mass.) that sailed just wide or over the net.

The best chance for the Bulldogs came in the final minutes of the game when a free kick from Lekstrom found DiMauro in open space but his shot floated over the crossbar.

Tutino made four saves in between the pipes for the Bulldogs, who finish the season on Sunday, Oct. 31 with a visit to Sacred Heart at noon.