Rebounding from last week’s loss to No. 1 North Carolina, the No. 6-ranked Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team put together a clinic as they defeated the Boston University Terriers by a final score of 20-10 on Sunday, Feb. 21 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium for their first win of the season.

“It’s been almost a year since we’ve been able to play here,” graduate midfielder Ally Kennedy said about playing at LaValle Stadium in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “Fans or no fans, there’s no place like Kenny P. So I’m just so excited to be back.”

After an early Terriers goal, the Seawolves got down to business. Highlighted by a hat trick in mere minutes by Kennedy, Stony Brook rattled off five straight goals en route to a 16-4 lead at the end of the first half. Kennedy, senior midfielder Siobhan Rafferty and freshman midfielder Jaden Hampel each had hat tricks by halftime. 

The second half saw the Seawolves put the game away in its entirety. Bolstered by a massive statistical advantage all game in shots, shots on goal, draw controls, free position attempts and ground balls, the Seawolves were simply too much for the Terriers to handle.

By game’s end, six more Seawolves had scored in addition to the trio of Rafferty, Kennedy and Hampel. Sophomore attacker Kailyn Hart grabbed two scores. Senior midfielder Sarah Pulis, senior attacker Jesse Arline, sophomore midfielder Kira Accettella, freshman midfielder Ellie Masera and graduate attacker Taryn Ohlmiller each scored a goal apiece.

Masera, along with Hampel, scored her first collegiate career goal on Sunday. Ohlmiller, in addition to her one goal, dished out a team-high four assists to facilitate the offensive scoring machine the Seawolves were today.

“We just have multiple threats on offense,” Rafferty said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “I think that it just makes us really hard to stop.”

Hampel, who notched her first goal and hat trick of her career in the game, also emphasized how much it meant to her to play at home. 

“It felt amazing,” Hampel said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “It really meant the world. Ever since I committed here, I’ve been waiting to play in this stadium. And to come out and be able to have the opportunity that I did is really nice.”

Head coach Joe Spallina was proud of the effort that his players displayed in putting the game away early, but noted that they would need to play harder and better against their next opponent, an 11th-ranked USC Trojans team that he feels is underrated. 

“We’re gonna have to play really well,” Spallina said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “They’re a great team. They’re deep, they’re efficient, they’re fast, they’re athletic, they have a great goalie and they’re really good at the draw. So I think that they’re a really complete team. I think they’re a little underranked … but they’re a top 10 team, so we have our work cut out for us.”

The game will bring about a family reunion for former Trojan and current graduate midfielder Kaeli Huff, whose sister Kelsey still plays on the team. Kennedy expressed her desire to see the team get a win for Kaeli in the sibling rivalry, which the Seawolves will have a chance to do on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.