Record Crowd Sees Lacrosse Fall to Hofstra

By William Lahti

The Men's Lacrosse team suffered a heartbreaking 14-13 loss to the Hofstra Pride, their local rivals, on Apr. 22. 5,723 people were in attendance, a new record for the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team, and in the top 10 all-time for attendance at LaValle Stadium.

Bobby Trenkle scored the game's first goal. Tom Dooley scored for Hofstra several minutes later. Hofstra drove down the field on the ensuing faceoff, but Camposa made the save before a penalty on Dooley put SBU a man up. Hofstra took a 2-1 lead before Bo Tripodi scored with 1:47 to play in the quarter. Hofstra came back quickly, taking a 4-2 lead by the end of the quarter. Stony Brook again struggled on faceoffs, winning 2 out of the first 7 in the contest.

Trenkle scored at 13:31 in the second to make it 4-3. They tied it at 4 at 9:19 with a goal by Ryan Hughes assisted by Tripodi while a man up. Hofstra took the lead again at 7:39 with a goal from Dan Stein. The game was tied at 5 with a goal by Josh Eustice, assisted by Timmy Trenkle. Hofstra struck back at 4:51. Kevin Crowley scored with 18 seconds left in the half to tie the score at 6.
SBU took the lead early in the 3rd with a goal by Owen Adams. Kevin Crowley made it a 2-goal game for the first time at 12:46. Hofstra's Anthony Muscarella scored to make it 8-7, and another goal tied it at tied it at 7:01. Jordan McBride picked up his first goal of the game at 5:11 to take back the lead.

At this point, the game swung to Hofstra's favor, retaking the lead at 3:43. Tripodi tied the game at 10 at 3:25. Muscarella retook the lead for the Pride. Adams tied it with 26 seconds to play in the 3rd.

Hofstra retook the lead at 13:46. Muscarella made if 13-11. It became 14-11 at 11:47. McBride scored at 9:55 to make it 14-12. For the next several minutes, Hofstra and SBU denied each other scoring opportunities, until Tripodi made it a 1-goal game at 1:35. Stony Brook's Adam Rand lost the faceoff, and Hofstra seemed to have the game in hand. Stony Brook's Nick Maturro drew a controversial penalty for an illegal body check at 1:15, while knocking down the Hofstra player with the ball. Head Coach Rick Sowell said the hit “Looked clean.” Hofstra held the ball until the end of the game to take the win.

Hofstra's offense dominated the game. They took about twice as many shots as SBU, 53 to 27, and won 21 of 31 faceoffs. If time of possession were tracked, Hofstra would have dominated that as well. SBU's downfall was their inability to get the ball down the field. Hofstra's Danny Orlando struggled at goal all night, making 3 saves, all in the first half. Sowell, however, commended the team, saying, “There is no quit in this team.”

Stony Brook will play Albany in the America East Conference Tournament, to be held at UMBC. The game is Thursday at 4pm. The winner of that game will play the winner of the UMBC/Binghamton game for the championship, and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.