March 22, 2008

Stony Brook, N.Y. - A goal by Denver's Charley Dickinson with less than five seconds to play enabled the Pioneers to hand Stony Brook a gut-wrenching 14-13 loss in men's lacrosse action this afternoon in LaValle Stadium. In a game that featured eight ties and five lead changes, four different Seawolves scored a pair of goals each to lead the Stony Brook offense.

"I am so proud of the guys," remarked Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell. "This is one of the best games I have coached in, the team was just relentless. We had a good week of practice and felt like we would play well. We knew that they were a dangerous team and they would score their goals. I am just proud of the way our guys did not give up and hung in there."

Dickinson's goal finished a two-goal spurt for Denver in the final two minutes of the game that resulted in the Pioneer win. Joey Murray's score with 1:53 left tied the game at 13-all. With time running down Stony Brook forced a Denver turnover with 1:46 left, but senior Rhys Duch (Victoria, British Columbia) had the ball jarred lose at midfield, giving the ball back to Denver. It looked as if the Pioneers would hold the ball and send the game into overtime, but Dickinson attacked from the left side. He slipped and started to fall, but he was able to get the shot away that won the game.

There were three ties in the first quarter, as neither team could put a run of goals on the other. Denver (4-4) got a man-up goal from Ben Wahler at the 9:53 mark to take a 2-1 lead, but freshman Jordan McBride (New Westminster, British Columbia) evened things up at 3-3 at the end of the quarter on a man-up opportunity for the Seawolves.

Stony Brook (3-3) then put in two more to start the second quarter, getting scores from senior Bo Tripodi (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and freshman Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, British Columbia) that put the Seawolves up 5-3. Denver came back with three of its own to retake the lead, but McBride tied the contest back up at 6-6 before senior Bobby Trenkle (Commack, N.Y.) put SBU back on top going into halftime with a score with 1:36 left in the half.

In a defensive minded third quarter the two teams combined for only three goals. Stony Brook put two of them away, one early and one late, and when Duch found the back of the net with 2:56 left in the quarter the Seawolves held a 9-7 advantage.

Trouble with the faceoff hurt Stony Brook's chances in the fourth quarter when the Seawolves lost all 12 taken in the final 15 minutes. SBU still held a two-goal edge halfway through the fourth when freshman Timmy Trenkle (Commack, N.Y.) put in his first career goal off an assist from senior Owen Adams (Norwalk, Conn.) that made it 12-10. Denver came back with a pair, tying the game on Brett Koll's shot with 5:33 to play. Stony Brook went back on top when the Seawolves' goalie, sophomore Alex Kajencki (Medfield, Mass.), stopped a shot and found senior Sean LeFloch (Bedford, N.Y.) open down the middle of the field. LeFloch took it all the way in and scored, putting Stony Brook back on top, 13-12. But the Seawolves could not get another one in the net as the Pioneers came back to take the dramatic win.

McBride, Tripodi, Adams and Crowley all finished with two goals apiece for Stony Brook. Ilija Gajic led all players with three goals for Denver.

Stony Brook will be back at home for its next game as it hosts Marist on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m.