Men's Lacrosse Hosts Bryant In 2022 Home Opener

FRIARS BACK IN ACTION...
The Providence College men's lacrosse team welcomes Ocean State foe Bryant University for the 2022 home opener on Saturday, Feb. 12. The game is set for 12:00 p.m. on Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium in Providence, R.I.

LIVE STATS: https://friars.com/sidearmstats/mlax/summary
LIVE STREAM: https://www.flolive.tv/

SERIES BREAKDOWN...
Since 1980, the Friars and Bulldogs have met 16 times. The all-time series is tied, 8-8.

In the most recent meeting, the Friars fell to the Bulldogs, 9-8, last season in Smithfield, R.I.

OCEAN STATE CUP...
The Friars' game versus Bryant marks the first of two games in the Ocean State Cup. The second game for the Friars in the Ocean State Cup will be at home on Chapey Field on Saturday, March 5 against Brown University.

Bryant plays Brown on Tuesday, April 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Brown University for the finale of the Ocean State Cup.

Providence was last crowned the Ocean State Cup Champions during the 2020 season. Providence defeated Bryant, 16-9, and Brown, 13-12 in overtime.

MCGREEN AND HARRIS POWER FRIARS PAST HOLY CROSS...
Providence defeated Holy Cross, 16-9, in its season opener on Saturday, Feb. 5. Evan McGreen paced the Friars with six-goals and Harris had career-highs in saves (17) and posted a .654 save percentager during his first career game in net. The Friars led wire-to-wire over the Crusaders. Grillo also scored big for the Friars, notching his 12th career hat trick.

FRIARS PICKED TO FINISH FIFTH IN BIG EAST POLL...
Providence was picked to finish fifth in the 2022 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll (9 points). Georgetown is picked to win the league, having collected five first-place votes and 25 points overall. Denver (21 points), who received one first-place vote, is second and Villanova (17 points) is selected third. Rounding out the conference is Marquette (13 points) in fourth and St. John's (five points) in sixth.

GRILLO EARNS PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST ACCOLADES...
The BIG EAST announced on Wednesday, Jan. 19 that Providence College's Matt Grillo (Setauket, N.Y.) was named to the 2022 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team. Grillo, a senior captain, played in 12 games last season, including nine appearances in the starting line-up. The BIG EAST All-Tournament Team selection led the Friars in goals (22) and finished fourth on the team in points (25). Grillo notched a season-high five goals against St. John's on Apr. 10. He was named BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week on Mar. 13 and Apr. 13, 2021.

2022 CAPTAINS...
Matt Grillo, Evan McGreen and Mike O'Grady have been named team captains, and will lead a team comprised of 33 returners and 16 newcomers during the 2022 campaign.

NEXT MAN-UP...
The Friars will look to replace leading point scorers, Ryan Nawrocki and Ryan Zimmerman, during the 2022 season. Nawrocki recorded a team-high 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists), while Zimmerman tallied 29 (19 goals, 10 assists). Providence also lost its starting goaltender, Toby Burgdorf, who ranked 16th in the nation in saves per game (12.54) last season, while recording a .509 save percentage and 12.36 goals against average. The Friars will also look to replace face-off specialist RJ Romeo. Romeo finished the season 146-290 (.503) percent at the face-off "X" and collected a team-high 56 groundballs.

KEY PLAYERS ON OFFENSE…
Providence will be anchored by senior captain Matt Grillo, graduate student Evan McGreen and junior John Hoffman, who will look to lead the team through the 2022 season. Grillo will return after leading the team in goals (22) and game-winning goals (two) 2021. He ranked second in shots (90) and finished fourth on the team in points (25). A two-time BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week, Grillo was also selected to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team. In addition, Grillo was named to the 2022 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.

McGreen contributed 13 points during the 2021 campaign, during which he played in 10 games for the Friars. McGreen is also a four-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team selection and was inducted into Providence College's Chi Alpha Sigma honor society in 2020. Hoffman also added 13 points in the 2021 season, with 10 goals and three assists. He made one appearance on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor roll.

GOULD AND LATIMER ANCHOR THE DEFENSE...
Matt Gould (Darien, Conn.) and Grant Latimer (Topsfield, Mass.) will lead the Providence defense this season. Gould started all 13 games for the Friars and recorded 10 caused turnovers. Latimer played in 10 games, including nine appearances in the starting line-up. He tallied 11 caused turnovers, the second most on the team.

WELCOME TO FRIARTOWN...
The Friars welcomed 13 freshmen to the men's lacrosse program in the fall of 2022. Newcomers include AJ Alexander (Syosset, N.Y.), Ryan Bell (Port Jefferson, N.Y.), Noah D'Andrea (Lincroft, N.J.), Gregg Dennison (Acton, Mass.), Will Ferraro (Califon, N.J.), Jack Horrigan (Lutherville, Md.), Richie Hughson (Avondale, Pa.), Gibson Linnehan (Pennington, N.J.), Stephen Markowski (Centerport, N.Y.), Pat McAleavey (Trumbull, Conn.), Quinn McConnaughey (Cohasset, Mass.), Albert Paniccia (East Norwhich, N.Y.), and Chris Simonton (Setauket, N.Y.). In addition, the Friars welcome graduate transfer Drew Edwards (South Kingstown, R.I.).

SCOUTING BRYANT...
The Bulldogs closed out the 2021 season with a 9-4 overall record and a 5-2 mark in the NEC.

In 2021, Bryant averaged 13.62 goals and 47.23 shots per game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH...
Bryant returns 81-percent of its scoring from last season. Leading the Bulldogs will be Logan McGovern and Marc O'Rourke. McGovern led Bryant with 46 points and averaged 2.36 assists per game. Over the course of his career, he compiled 76 points in 21 games for the Bulldogs.

Bryant's defense will include Brody Rule and LaJhon Jones, a duo that helped the Black and Gold feature one of the league's top defenses. Rule had 25 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers, while Jones posted 31 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.

Bryant welcomes back First-Team All-New England goaltender Luke Caracciolo. The Centreville, Va., native returns for his fourth year as Bryant's starting goalie. Caracciolo is 14-15 with a .532 save percentage in 29 career starts. In 2021, he posted a 9-3 record to go along with a .527 save percentage and 12.25 saves per game.

WHAT'S NEXT...
The Friars head to Loudonville, N.Y. to take on the Siena College Saints on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 12:00 p.m.

Men's Lacrosse Hosts Bryant In 2022 Home Opener

Next Event

Players Mentioned

AJ Alexander

Ryan Bell

Toby Burgdorf

Gregg Dennison

Drew Edwards

Will Ferraro

Matt Gould

Matt Grillo

John Hoffman

Jack Horrigan

Richie Hughson

Grant Latimer

Gibson Linnehan

Stephen Markowski

Quinn McConnaughey

Evan McGreen

Ryan Nawrocki

Mike O'Grady

Albert Paniccia

RJ Romeo

Chris Simonton

Ryan Zimmerman

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Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse versus No. 2 Villanova on May 1, 2025 , Loss , 14, to, 16

Providence College Athletics