BRYANT MEN'S LACROSSE DROPS OPENER 6-5
Panthers Escape Late Bulldog Rally

February 24, 2007 Box Score  

First-year coach Mike Pressler made his return to coaching Saturday at Bryant University.  The Bulldogs out-shot Adelphi 39 to 25 but ran out of time in the end in falling 6-5 in its season opener.  The Bulldogs host LIU-Post on Saturday (1 pm.) www.dspics.com

SMITHFIELD, RI -   Junior Jason Fietta scored three goals and Dale Pescitelli added a pair as seventh-ranked Adelphi held on for a 6-5 win over eighth-ranked Bryant University in men's lacrosse action Saturday on a cold and blustery afternoon at the Bryant Turf Field.

Tied 2-2 at the half, Bryant (0-1) fell behind the visiting Panthers 4-2 after the third and were down 6-2 following back-to-back goals by Pescitelli midway through the fourth. But the Bulldogs rode the strong play of All-American face-off specialist Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, NY) to get back into the game with a late flurry, only to come up short.

Hennessey controlled the face-offs throughout the game.  However, the Bulldog offense had trouble finding the net offensively, especially in the first half where the hosts out-shot the Panthers 22 to nine.   Adelphi (1-0) would score two in the third and two more in the fourth to lead 6-2 with eight minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs would score three unanswered to get back into the game. 

Brad Burton (Hauppauge, NY) started the onslaught for Bryant, ripping a high shot past AU goalkeeper Devin Scheiderbauer with 4:14 left.   

The Bulldogs wasted little time (seven seconds) to tally its fourth of the game as Hennessey once again got the best of Andrew Ashkenazy on the ensuing face-off and fed Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, NY) on the left side who connected with Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) all alone in front of the Adelphi net for his second goal of the game. 

With the game clock winding down, Bryant made it interesting as defenseman Vince Zorskas (Port Washington, NY) forced Fietta to turn the ball over in the Panther offensive zone.  On the ensuing Bryant counter, sophomore Matt McAllister (East Quogue, NY) put one past the charging Panther goalie to pull Bryant to within 6-5 with 26 seconds left. 

But there was simply not enough time to left on the clock to cap the comeback as Adelphi would hold on to pull out the win in its season-opener.

Bryant out-shot Adelphi 39 to 25 in the game and tallied 15 more ground balls on the afternoon (59 to 44) but strong play by Scheiderbauer in net for the Panthers proved to be the difference.  Schneiderbauer made 18 saves on the day and helped key the Adelphi defensive unit in keeping Bryant scoreless on seven man-advantage opportunities. 

Bryant will host LIU - C.W. Post next Saturday afternoon at the Bryant Turf Complex (1 p.m.).