The Stony Brook University men’s lacrosse team defeated the fourth seeded University of Hartford Hawks on Wednesday evening to take the semifinal of the America East Championship. The 9-8 victory was the second close game between the two teams in as many weeks.
“For me, we’ve been in a lot of tight games,” head coach Jim Nagle said. “Until [the clock] hits zero, I’m never fully comfortable.”
The first quarter belonged to Stony Brook, which scored three goals to none from the Hawks. Sophomore attack Matt Bellando scored two of those goals.
The game did not remain one-sided, however. The top seeded Seawolves did score the opening goal of the second quarter, but Hartford answered with two goals of its own before the half came to an end.
The third quarter was the most dynamic in terms of the number of goals scored. Hartford had the momentum early, scoring two of the first three goals.
Then the two teams exchanged two goals in the space of three minutes as the quarter drew to a conclusion. Senior midfield Robbie Campbell scored the first with 4:53 left. Then Hartford’s Conner Yatauro scored the second goal with 2:49 on the clock. Redshirt freshman Mike Rooney scored the third goal approximately a half-minute later with 2:21 left. Ryan Compitello of Hartford then forced through the final goal with 1:57 remaining in the quarter. The score at the end of this frenzy still favored the Seawolves by a count of 7-6.
Rooney later scored the first goal of the fourth quarter with 12:21 remaining in the game, putting his team up by two goals. The Hawks responded four minutes later with a goal of their own, bringing the deficit back down to one. Then sophomore midfield Cole Millican scored Stony Brook’s last goal of the game less than two minutes later.
Hartford tried to come back and came half-way to doing so. Aiden Genik scored one final goal for them with 2:23 remaining in the game, but there would be no miracle for the Hawks this time. Stony Brook took the game 9-8.
The Seawolves will next play the University of Albany in the final of the America East Championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. at LaValle Stadium.
