Bryant Pulls Off Stunner In Syracuse

The Bryant University men's lacrosse team is heading to the NCAA Division I quarterfinals after shocking No. 2 Syracuse, 10-9, Sunday at the Carrier Dome, avenging last year's loss to the Orange in the opening round. 

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Michael Parente

In what has been a year of firsts at Bryant University in the school’s second season of Division I championship eligibility, the men’s lacrosse team hit the jackpot Sunday afternoon in Syracuse.

Making their second consecutive appearance in the Division I NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs stunned second-seeded Syracuse, 10-9, in an opening-round game at the Carrier Dome. Tucker James scored four goals for Bryant, which led 5-4 at the half and built a two-goal lead entering the fourth quarter, while face-off ace Kevin Massa, who figured prominently in last year’s tournament game against Syracuse, won 14 of 23 face-offs for the Bulldogs.  

Bryant recorded its first-ever NCAA Tournament win last week by beating Siena in a play-in game at Bryant’s Bulldog Stadium, but Sunday’s upset over Syracuse ranks as the biggest win in the program’s history, avenging last year’s loss to the Orange in the opening round of the NCAAs, a game in which Massa won 22 of 23 face-offs to keep Bryant within striking distance. 

To put it in perspective, Bryant is only in its sixth season as a D-I school in men’s lacrosse, while Syracuse entered 2014 as an 11-time national champion with 34 NCAA Tournament appearances. As far as upsets go, this is to D-I lacrosse as Rhode Island beating perennial powerhouse Kansas in the second round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament was to men’s basketball. 

Surprising as it might’ve been, Bryant set the stage all season long for a deep run in this year’s tournament. The Bulldogs were ranked as high as 11th in the national poll during the regular season and entered the NCAAs at No. 19 after winning their third consecutive Northeast Conference championship. They finished 4-0 against this year’s NCAA field, beating Drexel, Albany, Richmond and Siena, and, most importantly, are coached by Mike Pressler, the former Duke University coach who led the Blue Devils to 10 tournament appearances and reached the 2005 national title game. 

The Bulldogs will play seventh-seeded Maryland next Sunday in the quarterfinals with a trip to the national semifinals on the line.

Bryant has enjoyed a successful spring in its second season of D-I eligibility. The women’s lacrosse team appeared in the NCAAs for the first time, losing its opening-round game to Boston College after winning the NEC for the first time in school history. The men’s tennis and golf teams also won conference titles to earn NCAA Tournament bids for the first time in school history while the softball team won the NEC tournament and earned a historic trip to the NCAAs, where it’ll face defending national champion Oklahoma next Friday. The baseball team, which won the regular-season NEC title for third consecutive season, will look to become Bryant’s sixth conference champion of the spring when the NEC Tournament begins next week in Connecticut. 

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