The Seawolves have been in this situation before. Stony Brook has been involved in every America East tournament since they began eight years ago. And Albany has stood in the Seawolves way of advancing in each of the last four.
But on this night the roles were reversed. Behind a blistering offensive effort that included five goals from Jordan McBride, the Seawolves defeated the Great Danes 18-12 to advance to the America East final on Saturday night in Baltimore against UMBC. The winner of that game wins the leagues automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
These two teams played on this same field just four days ago. The Seawolves held onto a 13-12 victory in a thrilling game. The Great Danes made some noise late in this one, but the Seawolves offense and goaltender Rob Camposa made sure Albany never really got back into the game.
After Albany cut the Seawolves lead down to 16-12, junior Chris Scott made sure it would get no closer, scoring the games final two goals and putting the game away. Scott came into the game with three goals on the season, but he found the back of the net four times in this contest.
Head Coach Rick Sowell was very happy with the way his team jumped out of the gate.
“Playing our first home playoff game gave us some juice,” he said. “We came out on fire.”
The Seawolves scored eight goals in the opening quarter, repeatedly beating the Great Danes with point blank shots from right in front of the goal.
The second quarter had a little less action, as the Seawolves outscored Albany 2-1, and went into the half with a 10-5 lead.
Playing their second straight game without injured goaltender Charlie Parr, who Sowell said is about a week and a half through a two-week injury, Camposa stepped up and played his second straight strong game against Albany.
When asked about going to Camposa in Parr’s absence, Sowell responded strongly. “I’m absolutely confident,” he said. Rob is “more than capable.”
Another key contributor in the Seawolves victory was Tom Compitello. He finished the night with two goals to go along with four assists.
Going into Baltimore on Saturay to play UMBC, who defeated the Seawolves 14-8 on March 28 at LaValle Stadium, will not be an easy task.
“They have a dynamite mid-field,” Sowell said of the Retrievers. “We just have to try and contain them.”
UMBC barley hung on to defeat the fourth seeded Binghamton Bearcats in double over time last night, which has to give the Seawolves some extra confidence they can knock off the Retrievers.
“The name of our opponents change, but we need to play the same,” Sowell said. “Right now we feel like we’ll play anybody.”
