The young guns came up big again for Stony Brook.
Led by freshman Brody Eastwood’s career-high five goals and sophomore Mike Rooney’s two goals and one assist, Stony Brook beat out Siena in most of the game’s statistical battles and defeated the Saints 11-9.
“It was a well-played game against a potently offensive team in Siena,” Nagle said. “We didn’t get a lot of breaks, some of it our own doing, but we played through them and finished in the end when we needed to.”
Eastwood’s goals came in bunches. In the first quarter, he scored two goals, the first one in a man-up situation, within a span of 46 seconds to give Stony Brook a 2-1 lead. After scoring late in the second quarter, he struck again at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring two more goals in a span of 45 seconds to put the Seawolves up 10-7.
“I’m just trying to get better every day,” Eastwood said. “The coaches are believing me, and I’m just trying to contribute the best I can.”
Stony Brook took command early in the game. After Siena’s Conor Prunty scored 39 seconds into the game, the Seawolves scored five straight goals and held a 5-1 lead midway through the second quarter.
Siena would come back, and getting goals from Prunty, Nate Barry, Kieran Donohue and Richie Hurley, clawed back and cut the Stony Brook lead down to 6-5 at the end of the first half.
At the 10:14 mark of the third quarter, Siena would tie the game on another goal from Hurley, but the Saints were unable to take back the lead.
Stony Brook got the lead back at the 6:31 mark of the quarter thanks to a goal from Rooney, and freshman Matt Schultz would score his first goal of the match at the 2:21 mark to make the score 8-6.
With 30 seconds left in the quarter, Siena’s Hurley scored his third goal of the game to cut the Stony Brook lead back down to one, but Eastwood’s two quick goals at the start of the fourth quarter, as well as another goal from Rooney, put the game out of reach for Siena.
“At the beginning of the season, it was a little hectic, a little fast but it slowed down a little bit for them now,” Rooney said of Eastwood and Schultz, his first-year teammates. “Everyone out here is sharing the ball on offense, trying to get everyone touches.”
Stony Brook outshot Siena 38-29, beat out the Saints in ground balls with a 35-28 advantage, and turned the ball over 11 times compared to Siena’s 18 turnovers.
One area that Siena beat Stony Brook in was faceoffs. Freshman Frank Lucatuorto, who came into the game winning 49 percent of his faceoffs, only managed to win six out of 24 draws against Siena’s Casey Dowd.
In addition to Eastwood and Rooney, the Seawolves also saw contributions from senior Jeff Tundo, who had two goals and an assist; sophomore Mike Andreassi, who finished with one goal and two assists; and freshman Challen Rogers, who had three assists for the second straight game.
Freshman goalkeeper Dan Shaughnessy made nine saves for his fourth win of the season.
“We don’t talk much about trying to get an at-large bid,” Nagle said. “We’re still focused on our primary goal, which is winning the America East.”
