Stony Brook was able to put points on the board, as they have all season. On Saturday, their defense also came up strong in a 13-9 beatdown of Vermont. ‘It feels good to get our first league win,’ Head Coach Rick Sowell said. ‘Overall we played a nice game. We did a lot of good things.’ The Seawolves are 1-1 (5-4) on the year while the Catamounts fall to 0-2 (3-8).
The Seawolves took the opening face-off and capitalized 32 seconds into the game on a goal by senior Bobby Trenkle. Vermont responded with two goals to take a 2-1 lead. After that, the goals started to tally up.
Off of another face off win, Senior Ryan Hughes was able to find the back of the cage off of an assist from freshman Kevin Crowley. ‘Whenever we win the face-off, we have a chance to score,’ Sowell said. ‘Crowley is terrific with ground balls and is able to move up the field.’ Crowley added three more assists as well as scoring two goals. He led the team with six points on the day. Seniors Owen Adams, Bo Tripodi and Rhys Duch also added goals to cap off a 5-0 run which finished the first quarter.
After a Vermont goal, it was all Stony Brook. They went on a 7-0 run and took a commanding 13-3 lead. Senior Michal Trojanowski began the scoring half way through the second quarter. It was his first goal for the year. Twenty seconds later, freshman Jordan McBride scored his first goal on a man up advantage and totaled three on the day. Seniors Owen Adams and Bo Tripodi also scored on the 7-0 run.
Vermont would add six of their own to finish out the game. The Seawolves were surprisingly held without a goal for the last 21 minutes of the game. ‘We have to keep scoring,’ Coach said. ‘We had great fast break opportunities, but we couldn’t finish. We got a little sloppy there, but we were able to tighten up on our end of the field.’
The Seawolves continue their conference play on Saturday against Hartford. Hartford is 0-2 (0-10) for the year, but they will not be overlooked. ‘They played Albany to a 14-11 game, and were in it the whole time,’ said Sowell. ‘They’re going to come in here confident just like they did last year. That game left a bitter taste in our mouths. That should be enough motivation.’ The game will start at 7 p.m. at LaValle Stadium.
