Men's Lacrosse Trounces Albany, 18-12

By Gregory Bernardi

Stony Brook men’s lacrosse advanced to the finals of the America East tournament after routing conference rival Albany, 18-12 yesterday in the first postseason lacrosse game at LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves will play for the championship at Maryland Baltimore-County on Saturday.

Stony Brook began the game with the same momentum it gathered during its previous game, also against Albany. Robbie Campbell started the scoring less than two minutes into the first quarter. Albany’s Dave Brock answered back with the Great Danes’ first goal, but then Stony Brook scored four goals in two-and-a-half minutes to jump out to an early 5-1 lead.

“The first quarter there we just came out on fire,” Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell said after the game.

Albany pulled their starting goalkeeper Drew DiCioccio for backup John Carroll after he allowed six goals on just seven shots faced. This was the second time in as many games that Stony Brook forced Albany to bench DiCioccio, the previous time coming after he allowed four first half goals. In total, the two teams combined for 12 goals in the first quarter, and Stony Brook held an 8-4 advantage heading into the second.

The second quarter was markedly different from the first. Stony Brook leading scorer Jordan McBride ripped a shot into the top corner of the net 43 seconds into the period, but then both teams shored up their defenses and scoring stalled until Kevin Crowley scored with eight-and-a-half minutes to play in the half. Crowley’s goal was followed by another long scoring drought that ended with an Albany goal at the 1:37 mark.

With 20 seconds left in the third quarter, Stony Brook stretched its lead to a game high eight goals on a shot by Kyle Belton. But Stony Brook left the door open for Albany to narrow the gap, and the Great Danes took advantage. Joe Resetarits put one past Rob Camposa with less than a second remaining in the quarter, and the Seawolves’ lead was cut to seven.

Albany started the final period with a three-goal run, slashing the Stony Brook lead to four with less than seven minutes left to play. But the Seawolves quickly gathered themselves and slammed the door on Albany’s hopes of a conference championship, getting a goal from McBride and two late scores from Chris Scott.

“We feel like we’re playing good ball,” Sowell said.

Leading the way for Stony Brook once again was McBride, who finished the game with five goals. The five goals pushed McBride's total to 42 on the year. Tom Compitello also had a big game, with two goals and four assists.

Missing in goal for the second straight game was Stony Brook’s regular goalkeeper Charlie Paar, who continues to nurse a sprained knee. Sowell said the injury is a “day-to-day” process, and that Paar was back on the field practicing already.

Stony Brook now prepares to face a UMBC team that led the conference in scoring. UMBC won the first meeting between the teams 14-8, but Stony Brook looks to contain the Retrievers with good defense and physical play.

“Anytime we get a chance to be physical we like to take advantage of it,” Sowell said.