Heading into the 2014 America East Championships, the Stony Brook Women’s Lacrosse team is on a losing streak. In overtime, the Seawolves fell last weekend to the Vermont Catamounts in what in reality was a statistically meaningless game.
Nevertheless, coach Joe Spallina and company are not happy about it, and will head into their first round matchup against New Hampshire on Friday night with a chip on their shoulders.
A team with a Tewaaraton finalist in senior goalkeeper Frankie Caridi, along with two of the top three scoring freshmen in the country, would definitely be in the top, if not middle tier, of the rankings, right? Wrong.
Recently dropping in the rankings after handling nationally-ranked Albany, Stony Brook again took a tumble on Monday. The Seawolves totally fell out of the IWLCA Coaches Poll while rival Albany, who Caridi stifled in a 8-4 win earlier in the year, remain at No. 19. The Brine Media Poll lists Stony Brook at No. 20, behind Albany, who is at No. 19.
Considering Spallina is already very good at getting his team ready to play, using John Calipari’s speeches to prep the team in the past, some bulletin board material in the form of these rankings will have Stony Brook fired up come Friday night.
For the game itself, Stony Brook has been the best defensive team in the country with the best goalie as well. Caridi anchored a defense that led the goals against average category by leaps and bounds, giving up five a game, compared to second-ranked Massachusetts who gave up 6.29 a contest.
A major trend toward the end of the year has been that freshmen attackers Courtney Murphy and Dorrien Van Dyke, ranked first and third amongst freshmen nationally in goals scored, have steadily decreased their scoring rate. Merely looking at the stats, fans may worry that they only got off to a good start and have fallen off, but that is not the case. Defenses have made a conscious effort to screen off both freshmen, giving the likes of senior Alyssa Cardillo more touches and opportunities to facilitate.
As junior Michelle Rubino was on the Tewaaraton watch list earlier in the year, she will be on the marked list as well, leaving freshman Kristin Yevoli and others with plenty of room to work and chances to put the ball in the back of the net.
Stony Brook did not play their best lacrosse against New Hampshire earlier in the season, yet they still defensively dominated for a 15-5 win, so look for what should be a confident Seawolves squad in the semifinals. With Albany likely on the horizon, coach Spallina will look to avenge the men’s and women’s basketball losses earlier in 2014.
If Stony Brook does end up capturing the America East title, it will be the second year in a row that they make the NCAA tournament, and they will look to build on last year’s second round showing.
