Bulldogs stage comeback but fall to Siena in OT, 9-8

BULLDOGS STAGE COMEBACK BUT FALL SHORT IN OVERTIME, DROP 9-8 DECISION TO SIENA ON ROAD

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Senior captain Mary Green (Merrick, N.Y.) scored three-straight goals to bring the Bryant University women's lacrosse team back within one score and sophomore Haley Bloom (Hauppauge, N.Y.) netted the game-tying goal with 3:09 to play in regulation, but Siena would win out with 33 seconds to play in overtime to take a 9-8 win over the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore Lisa Vendel (Sandy Hook, Conn.) would match Green's hat trick while Bloom finished the day with a pair of scores for Bryant (1-5). The Saints (2-6) got a set of hat tricks as well, coming from attackers Alyssa Treanor and Katie Maguire, with the former tallying the game winner in extra time.

The Bulldogs never led in the contest and trailed, 6-2, after the first 30 minutes of action. But the Black and Gold stepped on the gas early in the second half, as Vendel came out of the break to score back-to-back goals in the opening 10 minutes to close the game to 6-4 and kickstart Bryant's comeback push.

Siena answered with tallies from Maguire and Deirdre McQuillan, but with 15:06 remaining in regulation, Green took control of the Bulldog offense and, in turn, the game, scoring a pair in unassisted fashion less than four minutes apart and completing her natural hat trick with a free position goal with 4:16 to go to cut the visitors' deficit to one, 8-7.

And just over a minute later, off the assist from senior Antoinette Lombardi (Wallingford, Conn.), Bloom found the net again to draw even, 8-8, and the Bulldog defense stood strong from there to force the extra frame.

But in the overtime session, the Bulldogs were stung by a pair of yellow cards and four turnovers, as the visitors were unable to equalize Treanor's eventual game winner in the final minutes.

On the day, the Bulldogs were outshot by their hosts, 32-23, including 2-1 in the extra frame, and Siena took a 26-19 edge in ground balls. Senior goalie Lauren Filippone (West Babylon, N.Y.) paced the game with eight of those grounders and was responsible for a pair of caused turnovers. The Bulldogs forced 13 Siena giveaways, led by three from junior defender Nicole Rettinger (Dix Hills, N.Y.). The Saints forced nine Bryant turnovers, paced by a game-best four from Kristin McMillan, who also led the home side with seven ground balls.

Filippone made 14 saves for the Black and Gold between the pipes, including seven in the second half, while her counterpart made eight stops for the win.

After trading scores to start the first half, Bryant would fall behind, 3-1, at the 18:48 mark after the second goal of the day by Treanor. Vendel would cut the home team's edge to one with 7:32 to play off an unassisted goal, but it was the Saints who finished out the scoring in the frame with three more unanswered tallies before the halftime break for a 6-2 advantage. Siena went 4-for-7 on free-position shots in the outing, including a 3-for-4 mark in the first half.

The Bulldogs return to action Tuesday afternoon, when they host intrastate rival Brown at the Bryant Turf Complex at 7 p.m. The contest marks the team's first home game since March 3.