In any sport, possession of the ball is important, and lack of it cost the Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse team in their 12-11 loss at home against Quinnipiac University.
In a game where the Seawolves had few problems putting the ball in the net when they executed, costly turnovers and mistakes gave the Bobcats opportunities to out-possess coach Jim Nagle’s team and win the game.
One thing that could not be said about this game was that Stony Brook’s play in the face-off circle was subpar. Like he has all season long, freshman Kyle Rowe gave the Seawolves plenty of opportunities to control the ball in the offensive zone, winning 20 of the 26 face-offs that he took.
Coach Nagle was happy with Rowe, but not with the time of possession, saying, “When we win that many face-offs, to give up 12 goals is just insane, really.”
A number of crease violations were among the many, for lack of better words, silly mistakes in the game for Stony Brook. Errant passes and penalties also added to the mishaps, allowing the advantage of Kyle Rowe’s play to slip away.
Coach Nagle said, “We need to play a little defense on offense and hold the ball a little bit more patiently.”
Although the Seawolves only managed a mere six shots in the entirety of the second half, they operated well once they got into their sets.
Attack man Matt Schultz led the way in the scoring department under the lights at Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium, scoring three times, while maintaining second on the team in points for the season.
Facilitating the offense from behind the net, junior Mike Rooney continually threaded the needle on passes to the eventual scorer with three assists, feeding sophomore Brody Eastwood in front of the net right in stride twice. He now leads the team in points, taking his tally to 43 for the year.
Junior Mike Andreassi kept the Seawolves in it early on, scoring two straight goals in the first half, giving the team a 4-3 lead with 14:20 to go in the half.
At the end of the day, an out-of-conference game like this has little to no bearing in the record book, as Stony Brook’s true season is in the America East. They take on the Vermont Catamounts at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium, as the team looks to get back on track.
