Riding high after defeating NJIT, the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team took down the UMass Lowell Riverhawks on the road with a final score of 16-9 on Saturday, March 20. Led by hat tricks from graduate midfielder Matt DeMeo, junior midfielder Matt Anderson and redshirt-freshman Dylan Pallonetti — his third in seven career games — the Seawolves saw another offensive explosion like the ones that buoyed them early in the season.
Stony Brook took 35 shots on goal and allowed UMass Lowell only 18, controlling the game’s pace from the outset.
After allowing an early goal less than a minute into the game, the Seawolves punched the Riverhawks in the mouth with five straight goals and held their opponents scoreless for over 15 minutes. When UMass got another goal, the Seawolves rocked them for another five unanswered for a 10-2 score going into the half.
The game was all but over long before the Riverhawks’ valiant five goal fourth quarter, as the Seawolves had thoroughly outplayed their America East opponent from the get-go.
Graduate attacker Tom Haun, graduate midfielder Chris Pickel Jr. and senior midfielder Mike McCannell each added two goals in the effort. Sophomore LSM Christian Lowd and junior midfielder David Miele-Estrella added one apiece as well.
Defensively, junior Anthony Palma put up nine saves in goal for the Seawolves while the senior defensive duo of Devin O’Leary and Danny Cassidy led with four caused turnovers. Faceoff specialist Austin Deskewicz won 17 of 22 faceoffs to help the Seawolves win the possession battle.
“I thought we had a great week of practice, and it was great to see it translate to the field,” coach Anthony Giardi said in a postgame press release. “Any time you earn a road conference win, it’s a good thing. We need to continue to work on closing games out in the fourth.”
The victory improved Stony Brook to 4-3 (2-1 AE), tied for third in the conference.
Having won on the road, the team will now return to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium to face rival Albany on Saturday, March 27.
