On the strength of a dominant second half, the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team got above the .500 mark.
In a game that was expected to be a blowout, the Seawolves (3-2) struggled in the first half against the Iona Gaels (1-5) at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Tuesday. After the intermission, Stony Brook broke out, scoring nine times in the final 30 minutes en route to an 11-7 win.
The Gaels — who were playing just their sixth game in program history — held their own in the first half. At the end of a quarter, the two sides were knotted at one.
Just minutes into the second quarter, Iona broke out and grabbed the lead, thanks to an unassisted finish by midfielder Richie Karstien with 13:48 on the clock. A minute later, Iona midfielder Matthew Dyszkiewicz netted his fourth goal of the season, putting the Gaels up 3-1.
The rest of the quarter featured a staunch defensive effort on both sides, as the teams traded goals with Iona heading into halftime ahead 4-2.
“We made some bad decisions and put ourselves in bad spots,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “Midweek games, if you look across the country, are always a little bit sloppy … that’s the frustrating part of it, but we’ve played enough of these games that we know how they’re going to go.”
During halftime, Stony Brook flipped a switch, tying the game within minutes of the start of the second half. Just 62 seconds into play, attackman Justin Bonacci circled the back of the net and lasered a shot around the far post, cutting the deficit to 4-3. Not even a minute later, Bonacci once again put his name in the scoring sheet, taking a pass from midfielder Collin Williamson before putting it in the top corner of the net to tie the game.
“We came in at halftime and said that we needed a spark,” Bonacci said. “We really needed to come out and wake up on the offensive side. I figured, why not be the guy that goes out there and sets the tone?”
The Seawolves’ scoring barrage continued, as with 10:33 left in the third quarter, midfielder Caleb Yeung gave Stony Brook the lead with his fifth goal of the year. To cap off a 4-0 run, midfielder Richie Dechiaro cranked a shot past Iona goalkeeper Denny Piekutowski from 10 yards out to make it 6-4 Seawolves.
From there, Stony Brook remained in control, adding another goal in the third before dropping a four-spot in the final quarter to salt away the 11-7 victory.
“I was proud of the way we came out in the second half,” Gilardi said. “We are a young and inexperienced team, so every opportunity that we have to learn and grow and compete is huge for us. We just have to keep getting better. In the first half, we didn’t have the right mentality … I thought we did a really good job at halftime, with the leaders rallying the troops and playing Stony Brook lacrosse.”
Williamson led the Seawolves’ offense, posting four points on a career-high, three goals while adding an assist.
“I’ve been struggling in the last couple games to get shots off,” Williamson said. “The entire offense knew we needed to get going and it happened as we outscored them 9-3 in the second half.”
Aside from Williamson, midfielder Kian McCoy also had four points, facilitating three goals while chipping in a score of his own. Yeung and Bonacci both scored twice while attackman Brendan Marino and Dechiaro each had a goal and an assist of their own.
In goal, Jamison MacLachlan stopped 10 of the 16 shots he saw for a save percentage of 62.5%. On the flip side, Piekutowski surrendered 11 goals while saving 13 shots for a 45.8% clip.
Stony Brook will hit the road for its next matchup, as it heads east to take on the Manhattan Jaspers. The Jaspers are 2-2 on the season, having lost their last two contests against Vermont and Fairfield in 12-6 and 8-7 fashion, respectively. Opening face-off is set for noon on Saturday.
Kevin Broderick also contributed reporting.
