By Jessyca Tingue | April 8, 2024
The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team lost a tight 13-12 battle against the Bryant Bulldogs under the lights at Casey Stadium on Saturday, handing the team their first conference loss of the season.
Photo Caption: Daniel Kesselring, #7 had two goals in UAlbany’s loss against Bryant.
Photo Credit: Brent Warzocha / UAlbany Athletics
“Certainly a great game to watch,” men’s lacrosse head coach Scott Marr said. “Obviously down to the last second, but we're certainly disappointed in some of our execution. I thought our effort was great. I thought we stayed in the game and obviously tied the game with four seconds to go, but our execution just wasn't as sharp as it's been the last couple of games, and it cost us.”
Saturday’s game was a rematch of last season’s America East Championship where the Bulldogs prevailed against the Great Danes, winning 12-11 in double overtime.
UAlbany extracted 24 turnovers, many caused by the defense, including a total of four shot clock violations against Bryant. Unfortunately for the Great Danes, the Bulldogs won the ground ball battle 41-30 and took 19 shots in the second half, while UAlbany only took 12.
In the first half, it was a tight affair. Despite UAlbany outshooting Bryant 14-9, the Bulldogs gained a 4-2 lead by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Great Danes came out hot offensively, scoring two back-to-back goals to bring the score to 5-4 with 13:07 left in the half. Despite the steady defensive stand by UAlbany, Bryant regained a 6-5 lead by halftime.
“I just thought we were tentative on offense early in the game in the first half,” Marr said. “We really could have played… we could have executed a little bit better. I think we were attacking a little bit too early as opposed to manipulating the defense a little bit.”
On the defensive end, the Great Danes stood strong as they caused two more shot clock violations in the second half after extracting two from their opponents in the first half. In the third quarter, UAlbany drew three back-to-back man-up opportunities, only capitalizing on just one. This cost the Great Danes, as they found themselves down 10-8 by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, sophomore attacker Silas Richmond led the offensive charge and scored two quick goals after being held scoreless all game. The Great Danes and Bulldogs traded goals throughout the quarter, keeping the score close until UAlbany freshman attacker Jackson Palumb tied the game 12-12 with 1:51 left in the game. Unfortunately for the Great Danes, Bryant attacker Aidan Goltz scored with five seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 13-12 lead, sealing the win for the Bulldogs.
Jackson Palumb, Silas Richmond, Amos Whitcomb, Daniel Kesselring all had two goals for the Great Danes. Despite the loss, freshman goalie Landon Whitney came up with six crucial saves to give his team extra opportunities. He finished the night with 10 total saves.
Another strong performance on the UAlbany side came from senior faceoff specialist Reagan Enders, who won 14-27 faceoffs against Bryant’s Nathan LaLiberte, who is ranked the No.1 faceoff specialist in the country.
With Saturday’s loss, UAlbany is now 3-1 in conference play and in a four-way tie for first place in the America East with the UMBC Retrievers, Bryant Bulldogs and Binghamton Bearcats. The team looks to bounce back on the road as they’re set to play NJIT next Saturday.
“I think it’s a lot of mental stuff,” Marr said. “Those mistakes that we were making at the end of periods and then the mistakes on the man-up stuff and throwing the ball away, those are some mental mistakes. We just have to be a little sharper mentally in order to come away with a win next week. So we’ll get right back on the horse.”