SMITHFIELD, R.I. – A 4-1 deficit to open the game wouldn't deter a comeback for the Bryant University men's lacrosse team, as sophomore Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) and freshman Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) lit up the net with a combined nine goals in the Bulldogs' breakout win over the University of Pennsylvania, 15-11, Sunday afternoon at the Bryant Turf Complex.

Harrington netted a career-high four goals and added a pair of assists to lead the game in points scored while Larson scored five tallies – three of them unassisted – leading five Bryant scorers in the win, four of them recording multi-goal outings.

Freshman Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) also came up huge between the pipes for the Bulldogs, making a number of bigtime stops en route to a career-high 16 saves, anchoring a defense that faced 45 Quaker shots.

Bryant (6-4) got off to a timid start, putting little pressure on an offense that ripped off 14 shots in the opening frame. Craig Andrzejewski opened the scoring for Penn (1-5) at the four-minute mark with an unassisted goal before teammate Terry Kennedy made it 2-0 in the away team's favor with 8:45 to play in the first period.

Larson scored his first tally just over a minute later off a feed from Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) to cut the deficit to just one goal, 2-1, but Andrzejewski answered with back-to-back tallies just 38 seconds apart to get the Penn advantage up to 4-1 with five minutes to play.

Senior attack Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) cut into Penn's lead with 4:21 to play with his first of three goals on the afternoon, turning enough momentum toward the Bulldogs for Larson to send Bryant into the first break with a 4-3 deficit after he scored wraparound goal under heavy pressure with 46 ticks left on the clock.

"When we were down 4-1, we just started to play with a lot of heart," said Bryant head coach Mike Pressler. "I was disappointed that we didn't begin the game at that emotional level, but then we became who were are and we became more physical instead of sitting on our heels and watching them play. It was a hard-fought Division I win for the Bulldogs today."

Frosh Tim Clinton (Darien, Conn.) hooked up with longstick middie Anthony Iannello (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) six minutes into the second with a perfect feed from the defensive half, knotting it at 4-4 after Iannello took the ball to the cage for a bounce goal from eight-yards out. And the Bulldogs would never look back.

"Tim is one of our freshman stalwarts in the defensive end," said Pressler. "I thought he played his best game today. We've seen him do it in practice, and it's great to see him perform on game day too."

Harrington scored the go-ahead tally with 7:23 to play before the half and Bryant would never again trail for the remainder of the contest.

"When we went up 5-4 early on, the momentum shifted," said Pressler. "We were taking the play to them and that was the difference. We were more aggressive, more physical, tougher on the loose balls. And that was something we had to do."

But that didn't mean Penn wouldn't make it interesting.

A triple-teamed Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) dished off a quick pass to Harrington in close, allowing the frosh to deposit his second-consecutive goal with 5:42 to go to give Bryant a 6-4 edge before Penn threatened the lead with a goal from Garvey Heiderman.

But Kaufmann answered immediately, making good on a pass across the cage from leading scorer Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.), who started the play by picking up a key contested ground ball near the sideline.

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2009-03-22