Bryant rolls to 20-8 win at Sacred Heart in NEC opener

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Senior Jess DeMeo (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) scored six goals and juniors Caitlin Breglia (Long Beach, N.Y.) and Maggie Pressler (Smithfield, R.I.) added six points each as the Bryant University women's lacrosse team opened NEC play with a 20-8 win over Sacred Heart Friday afternoon at Campus Field.

Senior Lauren Britton (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) broke Bryant's program single-game record with a career-best 14 draw controls. Pressler's three goals and six points were career-highs for the junior. The Bryant defense allowed a season-low eight goals in the victory while the offense scored a season-high 20.

GAME INFORMATION
Bryant 20, Sacred Heart 8
Records: Bryant (5-5, 1-0 NEC), Sacred Heart (1-9, 0-1 NEC)
Location: Campus Field (Fairfield, Conn.)

COACH ROCHE'S COMMENTS
"We did our job today. Lauren Britton was a force in the midfield and finished the day with 14 draw controls. Offensively, we capitalized on our opportunities and upperclassmen Jess DeMeo, Caitlin Breglia and Maggie Pressler all came up big for us. Defensively, we battled for 60 minutes and got better as a unit. We are focused on LIU now and will use today's win as momentum as we prepare for Sunday."

KEY MOMENT

• Bryant opened the game with the first seven goals of the contest over a stretch of 10:29, receiving contributions from six different scorers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Sophomore Natalie Langella (Northport, N.Y.) scored 41 seconds into the game and DeMeo tallied a goal 1:18 later to give Bryant a 2-0 lead two minutes into the contest.
• Goals from Britton and senior Meredith James (Essex Fells, N.J.), scored 30 seconds apart, doubled the Bryant advantage to 4-0, prompting a Sacred Heart timeout with 24:51 left in the half.
• Bryant added three more out of the timeout with goals from DeMeo, sophomore Caitlin Bolen (Queensbury, N.Y.) and Breglia to go ahead 7-0 with 19:31 to play in the opening half.
• Sacred Heart scored the next two before a pair of goals from DeMeo put Bryant up 9-3 with 3:21 to go in the half.
• Langella scored with 24 seconds remaining before halftime to send Bryant into the locker room up 10-3.
• Sacred Heart scored in the opening minute of the second half and Langella answered with 27:07 to go to make it 11-4 Bryant.
• Caitlin Bolen added her second of the day put the Bulldogs in front 12-4, and after a Pioneer goal, the Bulldogs would score the next four, with Breglia, Pressler, senior Emma Ahlrichs (Zionsville, Ind.) and DeMeo combining to give Bryant a 16-5 lead with 18:43 to go.
• The Pioneers cut the Bulldog lead down to 10 before goals from Pressler, DeMeo and freshman Alexa Weber (South Windsor, Conn.) made it 19-6 Bryant with 10:48 to play.
• Sacred Heart added two more before Pressler scored with one second remaining for the final 20-8 margin.

STATS

• DeMeo's six goals matched her season-high and raised her conference-leading total to 33 for the year.
• Breglia collected two goals and four assists.
• Pressler scored three goals and added three assists.
• Caitlin Bolen added her second-consecutive multi-goal game.
• James added five draw controls.
• Sophomore Giana Kapoosuzian (Merrick, N.Y.) made six saves while limiting Sacred Heart to eight goals.
• Bryant outshot Sacred Heart, 41-17.
• The Bulldogs held a 19-9 advantage in the draw circle.

GAME NOTES

• Bryant improves to 10-3 all-time against Sacred Heart and has won nine straight in the series dating back to 2013.
• Britton's 14 draw controls are one better than James' 13 last season at Niagara.
• The 14 draws for Britton are the most by an NEC player since 2016.
• The Bulldogs won their seventh-consecutive NEC opener and improve to 8-2 in the first game of the conference schedule since the move to Division I.
• Friday's game was the 300^th in program history. Bryant has gone 174-126 in its first 300 games as an intercollegiate program, good for a .580 winning percentage.

UP NEXT
Bryant returns home for its next four games, beginning with a Sunday contest against LIU Brooklyn. The 1 p.m. start can be seen on NEC Front Row and tickets can be purchased HERE. 

Season tickets for the 2019 campaign at Beirne Stadium are available by clicking HERE.

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