WALTHAM, Mass. – After a second difficult Northeast-10 Conference loss of the season on Saturday, the Bentley University Falcons will look to rebound and win for the fourth time in its last five games when it visits Assumption College Friday at 7 pm (Multi-Sport Stadium). A live webcast will be available at www.assumptiongreyhounds.tv.

It won't be an easy task as the streaking Greyhounds sit at the top of the NE-10 standings with records of 7-1 overall and 6-1 conference. Assumption has tied the program's varsity record for wins while prevailing in their last six, a stretch in which they have averaged 43.8 points.

Bentley will make the trip out the Mass Pike to Worcester in a four-way tie for third place in the conference with just two games left before the Nov. 14 championship weekend. The Falcons are 4-4 overall and 4-3 in NE-10 play with six of the seven conference games decided by seven points or less.

Coach Bill Kavanaugh's club will be looking to bounce back from a 21-14 loss to Stonehill College, a game in which the Falcons grabbed a 14-13 lead with 3:49 left when senior linebacker Matt McDermott (Merrimac/Central Catholic HS) scooped a fumble and took it 22 yards for Bentley's first defensive touchdown since 2013.

The lead was gone 18 seconds later after a 35-yard kickoff return, two 15-yard penalties on the return and a 23-yard TD run on Stonehill's only play of the drive.

Punting and taking care of the ball, two strengths of this year's Falcon squad, proved costly in the loss to the Skyhawks. A shanked punt led to Stonehill's first touchdown (only a 28-yard drive) and a 28-yard return of just the Falcons' second lost fumble of 2015 broke a 7-7 tie with about five minutes left in the third quarter. For the season, Bentley is second in Division II in fewest fumbles lost and 14th in net punting.

Saturday's game marked the fourth straight contest that the Falcon D has sparkled with Stonehill limited to 242 yards of total offense. In four October games, Kavanaugh's team has held the opponents to averages of 212 total yards, 75.8 passing yards, 136.3 rushing yards and 13.5 points while coming up with 10 takeaways.

Senior linebacker Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/Barnstable HS), Bentley's leading tackler in five games this season, has a team-best 68 stops and is closing in on 200 career stops, needing 13 more to reach that threshold.

Junior safety Sam McDonald (Norfolk/King Philip Reg. HS) has been involved in five of Bentley's 17 takeaways this fall with four interceptions (boosting his total to 13) and a fumble recovery. The Falcons have shown a nose for the ball with ten different players having come up with a loose ball and seven having been credited with one or more forces.

While the defense has been solid, Bentley's offense has struggled of late. There have been only 336 total yards of offense in the last two weeks and the Falcons haven't scored 20 points in a game since week 2.

Junior QB Matt Montalto (West Yarmouth/Dennis-Yarmouth HS) threw his sixth TD pass of the season against Stonehill, teaming up with tight end Alex Farkes (Boston/BB&N). The grad student has been the Falcons' leading receiver with 28 catches for 298 yards.  Chris Calvanese (Norfolk/ Xaverian Bros. HS) has been the deep threat with the senior responsible for the team's only two 50-yard plays to date, a 65-yarder against Saint Anselm and a 57-yarder at Stonehill that set up the Farkes TD catch.

Junior Martin Bannerman (Pawtucket, R.I./La Salle Academy) returned from injury against Stonehill to gain 58 yards on 16 carries after missing the previous seven quarters. For the season, he's gained 584 yards, averaging five yards per rush.

Assumption, 11th nationally in scoring, has dominated the third quarter, outscoring its opponents 85-17 and has put up 101 points in the fourth.  Running back Alex Shain, one of two Hounds to have rushed for at least 80 yards a game, has scored a dozen touchdowns while Deonte Harris and Ashton Grant have combined for that many TD catches.

Shain has rushed for 824 yards and James Ward 663 with both averaging over six yards per carry. Harris and Grant are two of the top four in the NE-10 in catches, with 45 and 41, respectively. The quarterbacking duties belong to sophomore Brendan Tobey, who has completed 61 percent of his passes, thrown for 11 scores and been picked off only six times.

Harris also averages a conference-best 28.1 yards on kickoff returns and kicker Cole Tracy is the NE-10's leading scorer with 74 points on 13-15 FG and 35-36 PAT.

Assumption, whose defense ranks eighth in the NE-10, has the conference's second-leading tackler in Jarrod Casey with 87.

Last year, Bentley ran its record to 26-2 in the series with a 30-24 double-overtime win over the Hounds out in Worcester. Bannerman took it in from the two on the Falcons' eighth play of the second extra session after Blaine Hopwood ended Assumption's possession with an interception.

Following the Assumption game, Bentley will finish the regular season schedule by hosting LIU Post next Saturday on Senior Day.

BENTLEY BRIEFS: Bentley remains one of the leaders nationally in time of possession, averaging 33:51. Saturday's game at Stonehill marked only the second time this fall that the Falcons had the ball for less than 31:59 … Junior Tyler Ford (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan HS) is eighth in Division II and second in Super Region 1 in punting, averaging 42.9 with 19 of his 40 landing inside the 20 … Bentley, over the last two games, has scored on only three of eight red-zone trips … Over the last five, the Falcons have converted only 19 of 79 third downs, including 2 of 22 in the fourth quarter.