Stony Brook Tops Albany 13-12 in Wild Affair
from press release
STONY BROOK, N.Y. - After combining to score 12
goals through the first three quarters, Stony Brook and Albany
totaled 13 in an explosive fourth quarter, and when the smoke had
cleared it was Stony Brook that held off 20th-ranked Albany, 13-12,
in America East men's lacrosse action in LaValle Stadium. The
victory gave the Seawolves a share of the regular season America
East championship with UMBC with a 4-1 conference record, its best
since the 2006 season. UMBC won the regular season meeting with SBU
and will be the No. 1 seed in next week's America East
Championship. Stony Brook will be the No. 2 seed and will host No.
3 Albany on Wednesday, April 29 at LaValle Stadium.
"What a heck of a ball game that was," said Stony Brook head coach
Rick Sowell. "After losing that tough one on Tuesday to Hofstra we
wanted to put ourselves in a position to finish the job this time.
I am proud of the way the team came back in just a couple of days
from that loss and play a tough Albany team the way we did. A great
win for the Stony Brook program."
Stony Brook (8-5, 4-1 America East) entered the fourth quarter with
a 7-5 lead after breaking a 5-5 tie with goals from junior Tom
Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and freshman Robbie Campbell (Delta,
B.C.) that came just 15 seconds apart. The fourth quarter fireworks
started when Albany (7-6, 3-2 America East) scored two quick goals
in the first four minutes of the quarter to tie things back up a
7-7.
A four-goal run was Stony Brook's answer to the Great Danes two
scores. Compitello scored back-to-back goals 39 seconds apart to
put the Seawolves back on top, 9-7. Junior Chris Scott (North
Babylon, N.Y.) then assisted on goals from sophomore Timmy Trenkle
(Commack, N.Y.) and sophomore Jordan McBride (New Westminster,
B.C.) that gave SBU an 11-7 bulge with 3:37 left in the game.
Albany was not done on this night, storming back with three goals
in just over a minute's time. Seven seconds after McBride's tally,
Matthew Cushing scored for Albany to cut the deficit down to three.
One minute and three seconds later a goal from Corey Small, his
first since the first goal of the game, brought Albany back to
within one at 12-11.
As quickly as Albany had scored, Stony Brook answered with what
proved to be the game-clinching goals. Sophomore Kevin Crowley (New
Westminster, B.C.), who had scored the first goal of the second
half, put two in the net just nine seconds apart, the first coming
off an assist from McBride, that pushed the Stony Brook lead back
to three at 13-10.
Just when it seemed that Stony Brook had the game easily in hand,
Albany came back out of a time-out and scored with 1:41 remaining
to make it a two-goal game. With time running down the Great Danes
had another chance. Junior goalie Rob Camposa (Syosset, N.Y.)
stopped one shot, but Dave Brock picked up the rebound and scored
with 12 seconds left. Albany won the ensuing face-off, but turned
the ball over as time was running out as Stony Brook hung on for
the win.
Albany started the game with a 2-0 lead, but with 4:51 left in the
quarter freshman Kyle Belton (Langley, B.C.) scored Stony Brook's
first goal of the night to put the Seawolves on the board. Campbell
followed with his first score of the night to tie things up, but
Joe Resetarits scored with one second left in the quarter, and then
again at the 11:35 mark of the second to put the Great Danes back
on top by two.
Stony Brook blanked Albany the rest of the half, with Camposa
stopping four shots in the quarter. With the Seawolves' defense
putting the clamps on Albany, the SBU offense had time to come back
again, with Trenkle and Campbell scoring unassisted goals that
knotted the score at 4-4 at halftime.
Crowley gave Stony Brook its first lead of the night with his goal
at 11:01 in the third, with Campbell and Compitello later adding
their third quarter scores that set up the wild fourth.
Campbell, Crowley and Compitello all finished with three goals to
lead Stony Brook, with Campbell setting a career-high with his goal
total and Compitello matching his previous career-best. Camposa,
who started his first game of the season due to an injury to junior
Charlie Paar (Huntington, N.Y.), finished with 14 saves. The win
for Stony Brook broke a five-game losing streak to Albany and was
the first for the Seawolves over a ranked team since they defeated
Delaware last season. Resetarits led Albany with three goals.
Stony Brook and Albany, just as they did last season, will square
off again in the first round of the America East Championships on
Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00 p.m. in LaValle Stadium.
