For one final time, the No. 6 Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team decimated an America East opponent in conference play.
By walloping the Albany Great Danes 16-4 in the 2022 regular season finale as expected, Stony Brook (14-2, 6-0 AE) clinched its ninth consecutive America East regular season title and its 60th straight win over an America East opponent. As it departs the conference this summer for greener pastures, the Seawolves established, once again, their place tiers above the rest of the programs they beat up on for a decade.
“The America East was a fun ride for us,” head coach Joe Spallina said in a postgame interview. “Today signaled the 60th straight conference win, so that’s a special number that makes you think of all the alums who have put the jersey on in the past and all the great players we have this year and great coaches. It’s an incredible record, but it’s also a reflection on the consistency of our program.”
Stony Brook will leave having not lost to an America East opponent since April 26, 2014, a one-goal loss to Vermont. Under Spallina’s tenure as head coach, which began in 2012, the Seawolves are 78-3 (.963) in such games. A Stony Brook win was about the closest thing possible to a guarantee.
Attacker Kailyn Hart led the way on Saturday, April 30 with five goals while midfielder Jaden Hampel followed with three goals and a pair of assists. Hart’s blazing performances continued and she has now put up over half of her 57 goals this season in the most recent six games.
“Our defense overall was incredible,” Spallina said. “We held them to 16 shots, five goals overall — two of which were in the fourth period with running time.”
Stony Brook bullied Albany (7-8, 5-1 AE) into 14 turnovers, seven of which were caused. Defender Haley Dillon added to her impressive seasonal tally with four more, leading her team in the statistic.
As always, the Seawolves’ dominance was never in doubt. Hampel found the net twice quickly to start the scoring and Stony Brook held Albany off the board until the second quarter. By that point, the Seawolves were already up 5-0.
Stony Brook led 9-2 at halftime and 14-3 at the end of the third quarter. Seven different Seawolves rattled the cage on Saturday and a trio ended with hat tricks, including midfielder Siobhan Rafferty.
“We also knew winning today, we’re going to [have] a home game in the NCAA first round, so that was an important thing for our seniors to get the chance to play LaValle again,” Spallina said.
With goalkeeper Kameron Halsall coming off her roughest outing — allowing six goals against one save to No. 24 Yale — Charlie Campbell made her first start in the net since March 26, snapping a streak of seven straight by Halsall. Campbell earned the final of her six saves against Albany by stopping a free position attempt with 21 seconds left in the game.
This year, the Seawolves outscored America East competitors 104-27, routing every single one of them by at least double-digit goals. Owners of the longest active conference winning streak in any Division I sport, there was not much left for Stony Brook to prove against these schools. The Colonial Athletic Association awaits, and it hopes to provide more competitive foes for the program to go up against.
Barred from the ability to play in the America East postseason, the Seawolves will have to wait until Selection Sunday on May 8 to learn their opponent in the NCAA Tournament.
