Hey everyone. It's been a pretty hectic two weeks since I last had a chance to update the blog. While lacrosse has slowed down a bit with only one game in the past 14 days, school has started to pick up the slack as it usually does this time of year. Aside from the ritualistic academic sprint that begins this time of year, planning for my future has also been on my plate recently. Class scheduling for next semester took place last week; lucky for me, I batted .1000 and got into every class that I had hoped I would get into. As my time here at Bryant moves on, I find it has become easier for me to get into the classes I want. Now, whether this is because there are less undergraduate students setting their schedules with each passing semester, or the fact that no one seems to be interested in the classes I'm taking, I don't know. All I know is that it saves me a great deal of stress to be able to wake up the morning of class scheduling and not have to sit at my computer screaming profanities because I went 0 for 5 in class selection. Other than having to pick schedules, declaring a major has been a hot topic across campus. Sophomores are encouraged (I believe it is even required) to declare a major before we head home for the summer. It's a pretty scary thing to know that we're all at a fork in the road in our lives and we have to pick the direction we're going to go. I for one have been wrestling with the decision for a few weeks now. I came to Bryant looking to major in Literature and Cultural Studies with the aspirations of getting into education because I had a passion for English and enjoyed the secondary school atmosphere. Yet, as I've grown here, I've discovered that my true career aspiration is to write in some capacity. As witnessed by this blog, writing is something that I have become very enthused about, and I would love nothing more than to be able to do so for a living. The question now becomes whether majoring in Literature and Cultural Studies with a minor in Communications or majoring in Communications with a concentration in Literature and Cultural Studies would be more beneficial to me in an attempt to break into journalism. I've been diligently exploring all of my post-grad options and discussing career paths with some of my professors and I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a little stressful. As exciting as making some of these choices can be, the fear of the unknown that lies behind them gives an equally strong feeling of anxiety; anyone who has been through the process of declaring a major knows exactly what I mean. My decision has not been set in stone yet, but I'm sure I will come to a conclusion in the next few weeks. Hopefully it will all work out for the best.

                As for lacrosse, we won the only game we played since I last posted; we beat Presbyterian 14-8. Presbyterian came out of the gates extremely strong and we fell behind, something that has become all too common for us. With a few strong second half performances by some of our top players, we were able to pull out the W. All though a win is a win, this was one of our sloppiest performances of the year and needless to say, we were all extremely upset by the way we performed. I give all the credit in the world to Presbyterian for making their way all the way up from South Carolina and being prepared to play. After the long layoff we received after the Brown game, we had hoped that we would have been rested and ready to go Friday night. Unfortunately, we did not bring our A game and once again had to play from behind. On a positive note, it was our 8^th win of the season, ensuring that we would finish the year with a winning record. For a first year DI team, that is pretty exciting. With two games remaining on the slate, we hope to run the table and complete our first transition year with a bang.      

Apart from all the serious happenings that have occurred in the past week or so, there have been some great moments that have helped ease the tension. For instance, two of my best friends from home decided to come up for a visit last Friday night to watch the game and hangout afterwards. Saturday morning we woke up only to find out that one of my friends, Eddy, had gone missing. Now, Eddy is not someone who is easily missed: He is 6'5 with long blonde hair and he only has one hand. To add to his description, his pants were left in the room. So, we began to frantically search for our pant-less friend around campus. After a while, we decided that the best idea was probably to call the Department of Public Safety. I was unsure how seriously they would take a call at 10 o'clock Saturday morning reporting a missing person who was one handed and pant-less. Thankfully, they believed me and headed over to our room. They agreed to check some rooms around the dorm, opening up doors that had been locked. About ten minutes later, we see the officer open the door, followed by Eddy. He had sleepwalked after we all went to bed the night before and had somehow ended up in someone's common room on the floor above us. After the initial anger wore off, the situation became hilarious. We weren't happy with the fact that we we're now missing our ferry home, but under the circumstances we simply laughed it off. I guess we'll have to barricade the door next time Eddy decides to visit.

                Anyways, our next game is this Saturday versus Bellarmine in Bulldog Stadium. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so here's hoping that it stays that way. Good 'morrow.

Hey everyone...I'm truly sorry that my blogging has been so incredibly sporadic throughout the season. This has been a very challenging semester up to this point not only athletically, but academically as well. I have been trying to find the time to add to my blog every day, but in between class, practice, eating and sleep I haven't found much down time. While I'm sure you'll think that there has to be some increment of time in there for me to work on this blog, you all have to remember that there are some leisure activities I enjoy. Whenever I can get an extra thirty minutes of NHL '09 in, I am determined to do so. I'm in the midst of a Stanley Cup run with my Chicago Blackhawks franchise and the momentum is building with each win, so I am very averse to giving the team too many days off in between games. But this is beside the point...I have finally found some free time to get back to this blog. Tests have been taken and projects have been handed in, at least for the next week, and Coach Pressler gave the team a complete off day today. I did some damage in NHL before settling down to watch "The Dark Knight" for what had to be the 37^th time since its introduction to the viewing public. On a side note, if you haven't seen this movie, you are missing out on one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time and one of the all-time top performances as given by Heath Ledger. But again, I digress...After taking care of some much needed relaxation time, I found some time to write this blog. If any of you have been following our scores since the last time I posted, you would know that we had gone on a three game winning streak before falling to Brown last night in a game that was closer than the score let on. But, before Brown came our three game winning streak.

The streak started off with a game versus fellow first year DI program Detroit-Mercy. It was nice to get a win in front of our home crowd, especially on a Friday night. Two days later, we took on UPenn. We found ourselves down early versus Penn but managed to quickly turn that deficit into a 6-4 lead for the Bulldogs. Penn was persistent in their attempt to re-take the lead, but with the help of our offense and some timely saves by Jameson, we never relinquished. After Penn we had a full week to regroup physically, before heading down to Bethlehem, PA for a Saturday afternoon contest against recently hot Lehigh. They had just taken down two nationally ranked teams and despite their record we knew that this would be one of our tougher games of the year. Lehigh came out of the gates strong and we were once again facing a deficit in the first quarter. But just as we did against Penn, we stormed back to take the lead. Lehigh made a late push and took it to the very last second, but our defense was able to hold them down, and we gained our third victory in a row. As thrilling as that win had been, we had little time to celebrate as our newly anointed in-state rival Brown would be awaiting us Tuesday night. After classes Tuesday, it seemed that all anyone was talking about was the game that night. It was nice to see so many students excited about coming to a game. It was even nicer to see that it wasn't just all talk. The game attracted a Bryant lacrosse record 1,017 people and the stands were buzzing the entire game. Chants of "Here we go Bryant, Here we go," rocked the turf complex several times and really energized the team. Unfortunately, we couldn't pull out a win versus a very talented Brown team. The game was an entertaining battle between two DI lacrosse programs and the amount of Brown fans in attendance added fuel to the idea of this game becoming a yearly rivalry. While it would've been great to pull out a win in front of our home crowd, we had to tip our hats to a Brown team that executed at both ends of the field. 

Now, after completing a rough stretch that included four games in twelve days, we have some time to rest and enjoy ourselves a little bit in the process. Coach Pressler announced to the team Saturday we would be scrimmaging, but he would not be picking the teams. He told us that a draft would occur on Friday in his office, where seniors Sean Pasley and Mustache March victor Matt Tyburski would act as captains of each team and select their squad. Personally, I'm very interested to see how the draft plays out. The thing is, everyone thinks that the first two picks will be between Zack and Hennessy, but I beg to differ; If Sean and Tybo were smart, they would select utility man Alex Pfau with the first overall selection. Pfau is the sneakiest, most slippery foe you will encounter on the lacrosse field and commands a pole whenever the ball is in the stick. Need a defenseman? Pfau can play pole. Need a goalie? Toss Pfau in the net. Need someone to mow the lawn, wash the dishes and walk the dog? A. Pfau is your guy. He's that dangerous. The rest of the draft quite frankly doesn't matter because wherever he ends up will be the winning team. I can only hope I'm on his team...A barbecue is to follow the scrimmage, with the winning team receiving steaks, and the losing team receiving hot dogs. We couldn't have asked for a better method of motivation. After that we return to normally scheduled practice to prepare for Presbyterian next Friday night at home.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the update. With the schedule slowing down in terms of actual lacrosse games, I will try and get back to you all sooner than usual. Good 'morrow.

-Good 'morrow to all. My apologies for taking so long to post another update...I wasn't able to get any internet access in the hotels we stayed at during Spring Break.  A lot has gone on since I last posted, so this post will be a little longer, and hopefully I'll follow it up with another post or two in the coming days.

-Since I left off, we have had four straight road games. Unfortunately, after sprinting out to a 3-1 start, our record has evened out at 4-4. The past two weeks have been rough for us. Some people may look at our program and the games we've played, and think that we should be satisfied with our level of competitiveness versus some of the better teams in the nation. But in getting to the half-way mark of the season, we are no longer satisfied with simply competing with our opponents. We are now finding ourselves in one or two goal battles late in the game, and the thrill of competing has been overtaken by the hunger for a big win. In the games versus Army, Loyola and Maryland, we proved to ourselves that we could hang in there with the big dogs, and potentially do some damage. If there can be any positives taken from a losses we have experienced, this acknowledgement could be it. We are on the cusp of something here. We believe that we have the foundation for something great here at Bryant University, and we will do our best to build off of that foundation to experience future success. But for now, it is back to the drawing board. We have seven games remaining on the slate, with six of them being home games. We start off with back-to-back home games by taking on Detroit-Mercy Friday night and hosting Penn Sunday. I'm looking forward to having this abundance of home games as the season dwindles. As the weather gets warmer, we will hopefully see the same type of support that we garnered at the only home game we've had so far. Plus, it will be nice to get away from the road life, especially after living out of a hotel for the past week. While the hotel life does have its perks, such as maid service and extremely comfortable beds, I prefer our own locker room and playing in front of a home crowd.

This is not to say that Spring Break was not a great experience. Apart from playing lacrosse, a lot of interesting things went on during the break: First and foremost, the team's enthusiasm for Mustache March. A tradition that I've enjoyed in my two years at Bryant so far has been the team ritual of growing out your mustache for spring break. Even kids who I didn't know could grow a mustache sported some pretty dirty 'stache's over the break. While there were many great mustaches, I will only give my top three choices for Mustache of the Month:

Honorable Mention: Tim Clinton, Joe Rauchut, Matt McKeefrey, Bryan Kaufmann, Matt McCallister

3^rd Place: Sean Paisley

-Sean, who was fittingly dubbed Mr. Paisley once his mustache took flight, was one of the guys I did not know could grow a mustache. But he did...and it was spectacular. It is only fitting to compare his mustache to that of a state trooper, due to the fact that Sean was recently notified that he has been accepted into the Rhode Island State Trooper program. Congrats Sean.

2^nd Place: Andrew Clingenpeel

-Abs of Steel Clingenpeel grew out one of the best sideburn to mustache combinations I've ever seen, topping it off with a soul patch under the lip. He even received some credit from our opponents in the post-game handshake. The fact that he continues to wear it to class gets him the Silver Medal.

1^st Place: Matt Tyburski

-Tybo is a different animal. I really don't know how to put into words the sheer grossness of the mustache that he has been wearing. Walking around the hotel with his newspaper and coffee, Tybo could have easily been mistaken for a 45-year old man. A simple look from Tybo with his mustache is enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Congratulations on the taking home the Gold Matt.

-As I said, I have a lot to write about due to the long break. I'll cut this post off here, and hopefully I can get back to you all with the second part of my Spring Break blog this week. Until then, I bid you all good 'morrow.

I'm going to change things up a little bit in this blog. Looking back at what I've been writing about, it's been a little too 'formal' by blogging standards. I feel as though I haven't been real informative about Bryant Lacrosse's exploits other than the games we've played. So while I'll still provide updates on our lacrosse season, I've decided to take some more time to help you all get a better understanding of our lacrosse team each time I blog.

 First, an update on our season. This past weekend we took our first Division 1 home victory over Wagner 20-2, in front of what could have been a record crowd for a lacrosse game at Bryant. The stands were filled, along with pretty much the entire sidewalk, in less than friendly weather. It was great to finally play on our home turf and it was even better that we were able to pull out a W. We had Sunday off, and despite school being cancelled today due to inclement weather, we were able to begin our preparation for Army on Wednesday. After their showing versus Cornell on Saturday, Army has proved that they are just as talented as any other team in Division 1 and will present a formidable adversary. We are looking forward to being able to play at Michie Stadium, and Wednesday should be a battle.

Now, as to what I mentioned earlier. It's time I introduce the Bryant lacrosse team a little better to our readers. I'll start by explaining my title for the last blog. For those who have seen the ridiculously hilarious movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", you know that Pepeopi and Kunu are two of the more important characters in the film. You'd have trouble finding someone on our team who doesn't thoroughly enjoy that movie and employ its quotes everyday in the locker room (as well as quotes from Step Brothers). The team thought it appropriate to give the nickname Kunu to one of our assistant coaches, Charlie Blanchard. This is due to his relaxed attitude and almost surfer like personality. Plus, the fact that his name is Chuck worked out really well...because you know...Kunu is Chuck in Hawaiian. Look it up in an internet translator. As for Pepeopi, we decided to give that nickname to another assistant coach of ours, Peter Toner. Once again, his name placed into a translator, leaves us with Pepeopi. Enough said. While it is still in the early phases, we are hoping by the end of the year that these names can become a mainstay at Bryant.

Another tidbit about our team that I feel inclined to tell you about is a tradition that will live on with the defenseman of Bryant University for some time. Invented by some of the seniors on our team, 'speaking into the microphone', is quite possibly one of the most under the radar great lacrosse jokes that has yet to be discovered. What is 'speaking into the microphone', you ask? Well it's quite simple...When you are barking out defensive calls, what you do, is you bring the butt end of your stick up to your mouth, as if it were a microphone. And I'm sure you can figure out the rest.  It originated during auxiliary EMD, and has spread its way throughout the team. While it may not seem funny to the casual reader, to see 'the microphone' employed in person, is pure comedy.

Those are just two example of casual jokes that our team enjoys. I'm sure there are plenty of other teams in the nation who have "inside jokes" like this of their own, but this is just a small taste of Bryant. As the year progresses, I'm sure I'll have some more interesting stories to share with you all. Next time I check in with everyone will be sometime after the Army game, and before we head down south for Spring Break in Maryland. Until next time...

Hey everyone. I'm writing this blog fresh off of our program making history this past weekend. Our victory versus Sacred Heart on Sunday was the first Division 1 victory for the program, and we followed it up with a stellar performance in a win on the road against Dartmouth. We really put it all together versus Sacred Heart. Behind a stellar performance from our attack, we were able to score 22 goals, while only allowing 8. It was especially nice after the game when we were able to hang out with our families for a little bit. Jameson Love, our freshman starting goalie, had the team back at his place for a tailgate and we were able to grab some grub and relax for a little while before heading back on the bus and trekking back to Smithfield. We watched "Ali" on the ride home which, on a side note, is an amazing movie. Will Smith is ridiculous as Muhammad Ali. Unfortunately we did not get to see the climax of his great fight versus George Foreman, also known as the "Thrilla in Manila", due to the bus arriving back at school. But I digress...

There wasn't much time to dwell on the win as we had the Dartmouth game Tuesday. After a film session and quick walk through on Monday, we high-schooled it up to Dartmouth for a 3:00 game on Tuesday. While we weren't as sharp as Sunday, we pulled out a quality win. Thankfully, the weather slowed down a bit after they had some snow storms in the days preceding. It was cold, but it was bearable. Zack put up another great game and a couple of guys notched their first career goals to help us get to 12 goals. With Dartmouth in the books, our attention moves to Wagner on Saturday. It's our home opener, so we are looking forward to not having to leave campus for the first time this season. We're hoping that there will be a decent crowd, as early weather reports are calling for high 30's to low 40's. At this time of year, that is deemed a nice day. Flyers have been posted around school, so here's hoping that everyone attempts to make it out.

I apologize for the blog being a little short this time around. School has reached that point in the semester where every class decides to have their first test all within the same week and papers are due. And due to the fact that I have been a little neglectful regarding said work on my off day, it's time to get cracking. I'll check in again after our game on Saturday.

Hey everyone. Although I'm stating the obvious if you are currently reading this blog, my name Anthony Iannello and I'm a sophomore lacrosse player at Bryant University. This is my first post in what I hope to be a weekly thing.  I'm writing to you all fresh off of our first weekend competing in Division 1 lacrosse. It was an erratic weekend to say the least. There were ecstatic highs, and there were demoralizing lows. But I can honestly say that it is a weekend that I will never forget.

While im sure the term "demoralizing lows" may jump out as a surprise, allow me to explain. We started off our weekend with a long road trip down to Lexington, Virginia that started Friday afternoon, and resumed Monday morning after a night of rest in Towson, Maryland. We were set to scrimmage against Washington & Lee that Saturday afternoon as a tune-up for the University of Virginia game that would come on Monday. Although it was only a scrimmage, you could feel the excitement buzzing around the Bulldog squad throughout pre-game warm-ups. After all, this was our first time lining up against another team since we had returned to school from winter break. The starters were slated to play the 2^nd, 3^rd, and into the 4^th quarter in the scrimmage, with our "gold" team starting and finishing the game. The game flow was smooth despite a few kinks from it being our first time out. We started to display some confidence as the scrimmage moved on and went into halftime feeling good about our play, but not satisfied. And then came the demoralizing low: At the beginning of the second half, we lost our starting defensive midfielder and captain Matt McAllister to what looked to be a serious knee injury. Despite the loss, we knew that nothing could be done and we had to move on. After the scrimmage, it was hard not to feel upset knowing that one of our most important players would now almost surely miss out on our Division 1 debut versus UVA. Coach Pressler assured us that we had the athletes and depth on our team to help fill in the gaping hole left by Matt's injury, and as always we followed his lead.

The next day we had our final practice before our game versus UVA. It was announced that Greg Lehane, a fellow sophomore from Texas would step into Matt's position for Monday's game. Greg, a first line midfielder and former high school football safety at powerhouse Southlake Carroll, surely had the athletic ability to fill in and we all had full confidence in him. Practice went smoothly and the anticipation was building. 24 hours from the start of practice, we would be facing off versus one of the most talented lacrosse teams in the country. After a team meal and some meetings, my roommate and I took a few more looks at the scouting reports and toyed with our mesh a bit before hitting the hay. Surprisingly for me, sleep came easy that night. Despite the nervous anticipation that was brewing, I slept for a solid 9 hours (There is nothing like a nice hotel bed after sleeping on the double stacked egg crate mattress that usually accompanies college life). The morning up until the game was a blur. At first I was worried that I would be too anxious heading into the game, and now I was wondering when these nerves were going to kick in. It all started settling in once we began our trek to the field from our locker room. Seeing the Bryant Bulldog logo side-by-side with the Virginia Cavalier logo on the scoreboard of Klockner Field was a sight that made me realize the grand scope of the situation. This was the one we had been preparing for since last June. All the pain and struggling that comes with training were all devoted towards this season, and today was the start. Right before the opening face-off, I experienced an ecstasy that sports had never given to me before. As fast as everything was moving around me, I can vividly remember all the scenes and emotions that came along with the experience. While the first half seemed to last an eternity, the second half flew by. Before I knew it, the experience was over. Sure, the outcome may not have been what we would have liked, but we held our heads high when the final whistle was blown and the tally was Virginia 10 Bryant 4. Surely there is no such thing as a moral victory, especially when the deficit is 6 goals. But just as Coach Pressler had promised, we competed for 60+ minutes and not for one second did we back down and accept our supposed underdog role in this David versus Goliath battle. For these reasons, this past weekend is one that will forever be entrenched in my mind.

I hope you all enjoyed my first post. Things will be moving quickly in the coming weeks. Starting with Sacred Heart this Sunday, we have 3 games in a week, including our home opener (Wagner). I'll try my best to keep this blog updated weekly. Thanks.