On Sunday, May 8, the Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team learned its postseason destiny as the No. 8 seed in the 29-team 2022 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship. 

This is Stony Brook’s ninth consecutive tournament appearance. Entering Selection Sunday, the Seawolves were ranked by the Inside Lacrosse/IWLCA poll as the No. 6 team in the nation and most recently beat Albany 16-5 on April 30 for their ninth straight America East regular season title.

The Seawolves will be taking on the Drexel Dragons at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 13 in a first round matchup at Island Federal Arena. The winner will glide through to the second round to play against either Rutgers or Saint Joseph’s on Sunday, May 15. 

Drexel owns a 12-7 record and won the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship after finishing in second place during the regular season. Stony Brook is 14-2 and currently riding a 12-game winning streak, while Vermont made the NCAA Tournament for the first time by winning the America East tournament; Stony Brook was banned due to its upcoming conference change to the CAA.

Drexel head coach Kim Hillier is in her first season with the Dragons after serving as a Stony Brook assistant coach under Joe Spallina since 2016.

Stony Brook was the No. 8 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, when they lost 14-11 to the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the quarterfinals. The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed this year as well, and the two teams could meet in the quarterfinals again barring any upsets.

“When you look at the bracket and where our seed was, I think that part was a little surprising,” Spallina said.

A top player to look out for on the Seawolves lineup is midfielder Ellie Masera, who boasts a total of 58 goals this season, one added recently from the Albany win. Attacker Kailyn Hart finished off her regular season with five goals against Albany, adding onto her total 57 goals this season.