Bulldogs End Orange Men's Season ; Upset Syracuse 10-9

Story by Isaac Berky

Photo by Michael Silver


(Newhouse Sports Media Center) Syracuse, N.Y. - Upsets have been the story of the NCAA Lacrosse tournament this year and the Bryant Bulldogs continued that trend knocking off the Syracuse Orange 10-9 Sunday night at the Carrier Dome.

A rematch of last season’s first round contest won by Syracuse, the game started in similar fashion with the Bulldogs jumping out to an early lead thanks to early turnovers by the Orange.

“I was afraid going into the game we’d come out flat, drained especially our seniors because of graduation earlier today,” said Orange coach John Desko. “It was the opposite. I think we came out with too much energy.”

Colin Dunster got the scoring started for Bryant but Hakeem Lecky answered right back to tie the game at 1-1.  After Lecky’s goal the game would only be tied once more, at 7-7.

Battle at the X

Leading up to the game much was made about the battle at the “X” between Syracuse’s Chris Daddio and Bryant’s Kevin Massa, the nation’s top face-off specialist. Early on Massa dominated much as he had done last season. In the first half the junior provided problems for the Orange winning eight-of-11 face-offs.

Massa’s prowess at the “X” allowed the Bulldogs to control the pace of the game and slow Syracuse’s potent offense.

“I told my guys coming in the it would be a 8-7, or 9-8 game,” Bryant coach Mike Pressler said. “I told them we needed to keep [Syracuse] in single digits to win and we did.”

Pressler and Bryant also helped stymie the Syracuse offense by doing something not very many other teams had done against the Orange this season: play a zone defense.

“We started preparing for it a little on Wednesday and then spent more time on Thursday,” Desko said. “We just couldn’t hit our outside shots though tonight.”

The Bryant defense was not the only aspect providing problems early on for the Orange.

“We started [after halftime] to stick check more quickly,” Desko said. “That helped us defensively limiting them.”

After holding a 5-4 lead at half the Bulldogs extended it to 7-5 at the end of three. With the Orange threatening another late comeback in the fourth it was the play of sophomore goalie Gunnar Waldt, not face-off specialist Massa, that proved to be the difference in the game. Waldt finished the game by making a total of eight saves in the final frame.

“Their goaltender played a great game and made several big saves tonight,” Desko said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it here. I think he [Waldt] is the best goaltender in college lacrosse,”  Pressler said. “I haven’t seen another goalie who is better.”

Goals from Galasso and Staats helped the Orange tie the game at 7-7 with 10:32 remaining in regulation. Bryant’s Tucker James, much like Orange fans are used to seeing Randy Staats and Kevin Rice do, took over the game netting back-to-back goals exactly three minutes apart to help Bryant retake a two-goal lead at 9-7. After a goal from Kevin Rice the Bulldogs added one more to set up an eerily similar finish to the first round of the ACC Tournament. This time, however, the Orange came up just short.

So close and yet...

With just seven seconds remaining on the clock Rice found the back of the net scoring his second of the game to cut the lead to 10-9. As the teams prepared for the face off Syracuse head coach John Desko took a timeout to make sure he had the right play drawn up.

“I didn’t think when I went out there with seven seconds left that I would be taking the last face-off of my career,” Syracuse’s Chris Daddio said.

As he has done recently Daddio came up big in the final moments winning the face-off and dishing the ball off to Dylan Donahue.

“The plan was to get the ball to Kevin [Rice] or Randy [Staats],” Daddio said. “But I found Dylan instead and he hit a pipe.”

 Donahue made his way towards the net and fired but as Waldt protected the corner the shot went off that pipe.

 

 

“I told the guys they were going to 17 [Donahue],” Pressler said. “I told them to try and sit on it but they got a good shot off, Gunnar hugged his post, and they sent it off the post.”

 As the final horn sounded the Bryant Bulldogs had their second NCAA Tournament victory ever, and a date with the Maryland Terps next weekend. The Orange saw its season end earlier than planned but Desko took nothing away from the way his team played.

“I thought we played our hearts out tonight,” he said..

For attack Kevin Rice the end of the season left a bitter taste.

“I feel bad for the seniors, those guys I’ve spent three years with. We wanted to win and win for them.”

The Orange finished the season 11-5 becoming the fourth seeded team to fall victim to upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this year. 


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