SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite a near comeback late in the fourth quarter, the Bryant University men's lacrosse team couldn't even the score, as No. 12 Brown University held off the Bulldogs for an 11-7 victory Tuesday night at the Bryant Turf Complex.

In front of a record crowd of 1,017, the Bulldogs (7-5) found themselves down, 9-4, with just under eight minutes to play in regulation. Brown attackman Andrew Feinberg had just scored his fourth goal of the game, including three straight to bridge the third and fourth periods, to give the visiting Bears (8-1) what would seem to be a comfortable five-goal advantage with 7:45 on the clock.

But Bryant captain Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.) had other plans. Greer, with a myriad of Brown defenders on his back, carried the ball from the left side into the middle, running past the goal just to turn around, drop down and score as he fell to the ground, tallying not just the Bulldogs' first goal since the midway point of the third frame, but jumpstarting a rally.

"Zack Greer has scored a bunch of goals in his career and I can't remember one more impressive than that one," said Bryant head coach Mike Pressler, who coached Greer both at Duke and Bryant. "That was all heart and spectacular skill, and that ignited our team and the crowd and we were coming back."

Just 12 seconds later, sophomore Matt Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) made it 9-6 off a pass from Anthony Iannello (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), made possible by a faceoff win from Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.). Hennessey would win 14-of-23 from the faceoff X.

But the momentum wouldn't stop there. In fact, the Bulldogs held onto it for much of the remainder of the game, and Kevin Hoagland (Glastonbury, Conn.) made good on it with 5:20 still to play, scoring Bryant's only man-up goal of the contest after taking a dish from linemate Bryan Kaufmann (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) to bring the Bulldogs to within two, 9-7.

"I thought we were coming all the way back," said Pressler. "I've seen that happen. We get those goals from Greer, Larson and Hoagland, and then its 9-7 and here we go."

But while the Bulldogs would continue to get opportunities, the Bryant offense just couldn't get past Brown's all-American senior goalie Jordan Burke.

"He is arguably the top one or two goalies in the country this year and we got 39 shots, but we didn't get enough quality shots," Pressler said. "You have to get closer to the goal against a great goalie and I don't think we did that well enough."

A key turnover on a critical clearing attempt put a halt to the Bulldogs' momentum before a slashing call on Hennessey – the team's sixth foul of the evening – with just 69 seconds left to play forced the Bulldogs to pull rookie goalie Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) out from between the pipes to defend the extra man, allowing a pair of empty-netters for the 11-7 final.

"Our effort and our ability to play hard was there for four quarters," said Pressler. "We kept battling these guys, even when we were down 9-4. With our great faceoff guy, we thought we could come all the way back. But we had a failed clear in a routine play, and that was the turnaround. And they came back and scored.

"Everyone had to play very well for us to win and for the most part we did," he continued. "But Brown is so talented. Give them all the credit – they made the plays when they needed to."

The Bulldogs got off to a careless start to the contest, as unforced errors ran rampant through the game's first 15 minutes, giving Bryant limited possession in the offensive end.

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2009-04-01