Northeast Conference Tournament MVP Peter McMahon scored his third-straight hat trick while NEC Player of the Year Kevin Massa won 21-for-25 faceoffs as the Bryant University men's lacrosse team earned the conference's first-ever automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. It was also the school's first Division I national tournament berth following a 14-7 victory over Robert Morris at Bulldog Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island on Saturday.
Junior midfielder Colin Dunster recorded a contest-best six points off two goals and four assists, while the Bulldogs dominated nearly every facet of the game as the Black and Gold defended their NEC tournament championship and 2013 regular-season title.
Matt MacGrotty, a 6-4 junior defender from New Westminster, also shared in the second consecutive NEC title with Bryant. Last year, Bryant, in its first season in the NCAA Division was not eligible for an automatic berth into the national championships.
MacGrotty led the team with 27 caused turnovers and also picked up 34 ground balls for the Bulldogs this season.
The Colonials (8-7) fell behind, 6-2, at the halftime break but used a four-goal third quarter to pull back within a single tally, 7-6, entering the final 15 minutes of play. But in the fourth quarter, the top-seeded Bulldogs exploded for seven goals - six of which came unanswered - to pull away for the victory in front of the home crowd.
"Our ability to close the game out was just remarkable today," said head coach Mike Pressler. "To win not only in front of our fans, our president and athletic director, but to also be the first team in Bryant history to go to the Division I NCAA tournament - there is so much emotion and excitement in that."
On the day, Bryant outshot Robert Morris, 44-25, won the ground balls game, 59-26, and allowed the Colonials just four faceoff wins in 25 tries.
Bryant will now play in the 16-team playdowns to the NCAA national final against powerhouse programs as Syracuse, Ohio State, Cornell, Denver, Maryland and Penn State.
"It doesn't matter who we play," said Pressler. "We will be traveling somewhere, and it doesn't matter. Our goal was to get to this point, and then once you get there to figure it out and find a way to go beyond.
"But we're going to come up with a plan to compete, and to beat," he continued. "We aren't going in there for any other reason. We are going in there to win - anything less than that wouldn't be us."
