On Feb. 14, the men’s lacrosse team was able to bounce back from a season-opening loss at the hands of Delaware by beating No. 19/14 Bryant at home in extremely cold conditions. The Bison responded from a tough loss, in which they allowed 12 goals, and held Bryant to five goals on the day, picking up the 7-5 win with Patriot League play right around the corner.

The stingy Bison defense was anchored by Sam Grinberg ’15 who racked up 13 saves in the contest. Alex Spring ’16 caused two turnovers and logged four ground balls, setting a good example for Lukas Munoz ’18, who saw his first collegiate minutes of play against the Bulldogs. The Bison defense also held Bryant to 10-for-16 in clearing efficiency.

The Orange and Blue allowed no goals in the entire first half, and opened scoring on the day with a goal from Sean Doyle ’16 with 5:18 to go in the first quarter. Doyle went on to score once more. Ryan Joseph ’15 also netted two goals, both assisted by Thomas Flibotte ’16.

The men never trailed in the game, although they were met with some dramatic spurts of Bulldog offense. After scoring in the opening 15 seconds of the second half, Bryant recaptured some momentum, eventually cutting the Bison lead to 4-3. However, the Bison then came roaring back for three scores, a cushion they would need in the final moments of the game with Bryant scoring two goals to conclude the contest, with the second coming in the final 22 seconds.

Other scorers for the Bison were Kyle Shanahan ’16, Brock Ghelfi ’16, and Will Sands ’18. The Bison tallied more shots than Bryant on the day, collecting a 36-33 edge, all while turning the ball over only 11 times, eight fewer than the Bulldogs. While the Bison did lose 12 of 16 faceoffs, they were met by a First Team All-American faceoff specialist of Bryant. Coach Frank Fedorjaka’s squad will return to action on Feb. 21 against Navy.