While Mother Nature made it snow on a frigid Saturday afternoon, Dorrien Van Dyke and company made it rain goals against the visiting Oregon Ducks at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, as the No. 12/8 Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team notched its ninth-straight win of the undefeated season, 16-3.
“It was brutal,” Van Dyke, a sophomore who led the team in points last season, said. “We’ve played in every condition you can imagine. Whenever it’s snowing in practice coach always screams, ‘It’s our weather!’He really makes it our mentality that we can play in any type of weather.”
The entirety of the game, which was delayed by over an hour as facilities used a Bobcat plow and plenty of shovels to clear the snow-covered field, was played under constant precipitation. That did not stop the Seawolves’ intensity on either end of the field, though.
“I think it was a good team win for us. A lot of people got in off the bench,” Van Dyke said. “We just really were rolling, we were hitting each other and finishing our shots.”
Although Stony Brook’s offense has the potential to pour it on more, the group did a good job of converting on its opportunities, scoring on 16 of its 26 shots in the game. The game was reminiscent of last season at LaValle, as Van Dyke and classmate Courtney Murphy led the assault.
Van Dyke scored four goals while dishing out three assists, as Murphy put five shots in the back of the net, assisting on a goal by junior Taylor Ranftle as well.
“We were just seeing each other getting open,” Van Dyke said on her connection with teammates in the game. “One person would cut and the follow cut would be wide open, and we would just trust each other to finish and bury it.”
Ranftle continued her solid season on Long Island after transferring from Virginia, scoring two goals while assisting on two more.
Freshman sensation Kylie Ohlmiller did her usual scoring parade as well, notching three in the goals column while also dishing two assists on the day.
After being a major contributor last season, sophomore Kristin Yevoli has not been in the spotlight quite as often with the team’s firepower, but she performed well in front of the hundred or so fans in attendance against the Ducks. She scored two goals on five shots while assisting on another.
“Oregon is an opponent that came into the game with a lot of wins and that we did not know much about,” Head Coach Joe Spallina said, before heading out to the first practice of the season for his other team, Major League Lacrosse’s New York Lizards. “They do a nice job. It was an interesting matchup for us.”
The team has little time to revel in their success, however, as the Seawolves are already focusing their attention on a big week of America East games.
The spotlight is turning solely to their next game against Binghamton on Wednesday.
“I think the big focal point for us is us. One game a time,” Spallina said. “It’s a little cliché, but it’s what we talk about. It’s who we are.”
For Van Dyke, despite the team’s undefeated record and wins against high-profile teams, every game is a big one going forward in the season. That starts with Binghamton and Albany this week.
“It’s a very big week. We’re looking to win both of them hopefully by a lot and just keep rolling and finishing the season well,” she said.
