Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse beat No. 19 Albany 16-10 in a home game at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday, March 27. A statement win for a team looking to make a big one, the moment could not have been timed better amid the run up to the conference playoffs.
Ten different scorers helped keep the Seawolves ahead of the Great Danes for the entire game, but the hero of the day was senior attackman Patrick Kaschalk. A bench player who stepped in to replace an injured graduate attackman Tom Haun, Kaschalk reminded everyone how good he is with a team-high hat trick of goals.
“I’ve had the next-man-up mentality, working hard and trying to still be in the group,” Kaschalk said in a postgame press release. “Today Tom couldn’t be out there. So I had to step up and do my job. I did one-sixth out there. And we ended up being successful.”
Graduate duo Cory VanGinhoven and Chris Pickel Jr. had two goals each, as did redshirt-freshman attackman Dylan Pallonetti and junior midfielder Caleb Pearson. Meanwhile, senior attackman Connor Grippe, graduate midfielder Matt DeMeo, senior defenseman Devin O’Leary, junior midfielder Matt Anderson and senior midfielder Mike McCannell all scored one a piece.
“Pat Kaschalk’s a guy who works every day,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said. “He’s ready. We’ve kind of rode three attackmen. But Pat had an unbelievable two weeks of practice. This week, with Tommy out of practice, he stepped up. And it was his chance.”
Meanwhile, junior goalie Anthony Palma held it down between the sticks with 12 saves to help secure the victory.
Now 5-3 overall and 3-1 in conference, the Seawolves have found their mojo after the tough mid-season stretch they had. Gilardi has his team playing its best lacrosse since the beginning of the year, and getting hot now in the run up towards the America East Tournament will be key to make it back to the NCAA tournament.
“This is a big win,” Kaschalk said. “Anything in conference is big. Albany is even a little bigger.”
Stony Brook will look to keep this up when they take to the road to face the Hartford Hawks on Saturday, April 3.
