March 10, 2010

BRYANT WINS BIG OVER BELLARMINE, TAKES 13-4 VICTORY ON THE ROAD WEDNESDAY

Boxscore

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) scored a trio of goals while sophomore Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) chipped in five points off a goal and four assists to lead the Bryant University men's lacrosse team past Bellarmine University, 13-4, Wednesday afternoon in Louisville, Ky.

Bryant (3-2) outshot the Knights (3-3), 40-19, in the affair and never trailed in a contest that saw scores from eight different Bulldogs.

The Black and Gold raced out to a 4-0 lead less than halfway through the first quarter, thanks to a pair of goals from first-line midfielder Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) and scores from junior John Truscello (Holbrook, N.Y.) and Harrington. Harrington would get the assist on both of Crowley's tallies.

Each team would score once more before the end of the first session, and Bellarmine would close the gap to three, 5-2, less than a minute into the second frame with a Sean Doyle score. The attackman would record three of the home side's four goals on the day.

But from there, the Bulldogs rattled off four-consecutive tallies spanning the second and third periods, bookended by a pair of Larson goals, to drive the score to 9-2 in the visitors' favor.

Doyle would get the Knights one more before heading into the final session, but four more Bryant goals – from Larson, senior captain Bryant Amitrano (Valley Stream, N.Y.), Truscello and rookie JK Poirier (Coatesville, Pa.) – put the Bulldogs too far out in front with a 10-goal advantage, 13-3.

Jarrett Davis would add the final goal of the game for either side with 3:12 to play, bringing the score to 13-4 for the final whistle.

The game saw a number of firsts for the Bulldog side, as senior captain Matt McAllister (East Quogue, N.Y.) recorded his first score of the season with 8:49 to go in the third. Poirier's goal with 10:32 left in the contest marked the rookie's first collegiate goal to go along with three previous assists while freshman Kyle Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) earned his first collegiate point in the outing, assisting on Poirier's goal to close out the Bryant scoring. Wednesday's win was the first career appearance for the younger Crowley.

Junior Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, Vt.) took over faceoff duties for the Bulldogs, performing well in his first faceoff efforts of the season and going 13-for-16 on the day. Bryant won 15-of-20 faceoffs in the contest and went 9-for-10 on clear attempts. Sophomore Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) made nine saves in his third win of the season while Roberts led the way with a game-high seven ground balls.

Bryant continues its Spring Break road trip Saturday, when the team travels to South Carolina for a 1 p.m. matchup against Presbyterian College.