The Seawolves went to Albany knowing that they would be playing the Great Danes in the American East Tournament this weekend. They also knew that although Albany was 5-7, it would be a difficult game.
Stony Brook fell to the Danes 10-7 on Saturday night. They jumped out to an early lead but were unable to hold on. The Seawolves scored off the opening face off, just 10 seconds in when freshman Jordan McBride put the ball past the Albany goaltender. They continued to add to their lead, when senior Rhys Duch scored halfway through the quarter, his 13th of the year.
McBride struck again, in back to back man up opportunities. Late in the first quarter and early in the second. Stony Brook had 13 shots in the first quarter, with 10 hitting the net. They also got 10 ground balls and took advantage of seven turnovers by the Danes.
Albany netted two goals to get within two, but senior Bo Tripodi received a pass from freshman Timmy Trenkle and scored to extend the Stony Brook lead back to three at 5-2. It was Trenkle’s fifth assist of the year. Albany took the momentum going into the half after they tallied three straight goals to go into the half tied at five.
Albany came out in the second half and scored the first two goals. Stony Brook was held to only four shots in the third quarter and ten in the second half. Tripodi would score 10 seconds into the fourth quarter to get the Seawolves back within one. This was Tripodi’s 27th goal of the season. Albany then scored two more goals within a minute, giving them a 9-6 lead.
With two minutes left in the game, McBride scored his fourth goal of the game to pull the Seawolves within two. He leads the team with 43 goals on the season and is ranked in the top five in the nation in goals per game. Albany scored on a man up opportunity late in the fourth quarter to give them the final 10-7 margin. Albany was 2-4 in man up opportunities.
Stony Brook won 11 of 21 face-offs throughout the game, but were only 4 of 9 in the second half.
The third-seeded Seawolves will take on second-seeded Albany on Thursday at 4:00 pm at UMBC. Last year, the Seawolves were the fourth seed and lost to Albany, the one seed, by a score of 17-5. The Seawolves look to rebound after two losses. A Seawolves win would set them up to play the winner of the Binghamton-UMBC game.
2008 America East Men’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinals –
– Thursday, May 1
‘ ‘ Game 1: No. 3 Stony Brook vs No. 2 Albany, 4 p.m.
‘ ‘ Game 2: No. 4 Binghamton at No. 1 UMBC, 7:30 p.m.
Final – Saturday, May 3
‘ ‘ Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2, 7:30 p.m.
