Mike Rooney continued his red-hot senior season by tying Stony Brook’s Division I points record for a year with 77, but it was not enough to finish an impressive comeback against Lehigh, which beat the Seawolves, 12-11, on Sunday afternoon.
“It was a hard fought game, I was proud of the way our team fought back,” Head Coach Jim Nagle said. “I didn’t think we played particularly fundamentally but we showed heart in coming back and we didn’t get the breaks we needed.”
Rooney did all he can, scoring three goals on the day, one with only seconds remaining in the third quarter to give momentum to the Seawolves by tying the game at 9. However, tying the school’s record at this level would not
be enough.
“I’m really not even thinking about that,” Rooney, who firmly remains in third in the country for points per game, said. “I’m just pretty mad that we lost today.”
Junior defenseman Lucas Rock would not let his team give up without a fight, as he scored only the second goal of his career, his first this season, with 1:25 remaining.
“Kind of just brought the ball up on the clear, they were locking off everyone,” Rock said. “There was not a lot of time left, so I was just going to the goal seeing what was going to happen, luckily it went in.”
The Seawolves would wind up with possession and a chance to finish off the comeback victory, but a late turnover sealed their fate.
“We went from a big win to kind of a tough loss. We went through a period where we just kept winning good games and we were on a hot streak,” Rock said. “I think this loss kind of brought us down a little bit and [we are] ready to get back to working and get back to what we do best.”
It is fair to say that despite fighting back time and time again in the second half, Stony Brook did not perform how they wanted to from the get-go. The Mountain Hawks punched the Seawolves in the chin with a five-goal second quarter, giving them a 7-3 lead heading into the break.
“I think at the beginning of the game we came out pretty slow,” Rooney said. “We didn’t really stick to our fundamentals.”
A good sign for Stony Brook was having nine different players score goals. Three of those student-athletes, Rock and sophomores Jay Lindsay and Mark Ellis, all scored for the first time this season.
“We kind of push transitions sometimes so it was good for them to get goals and stuff,” Rooney said. “When some people aren’t stepping up, other guys will on our team.”
Behind a career performance from Brody Eastwood, Stony Brook delivered an absolute shellacking on the road Friday night at the hands of the UMass Lowell River Hawks, winning 20-9.
Eastwood eclipsed the River Hawks goal total single-handedly, potting 10 goals on the evening. The third-year Canadian’s 10 goals ties a school record previously achieved in 2008 by Jordan McBride. Eastwood now has 50 goals on the season, leading the team.
Mike Rooney had a game-high six assists to go along with a pair of goals.
By helping on his 44th goal of the year, Rooney has set the school record for assists in a season, a particularly impressive feat achieved with four games remaining in the regular season.
The Seawolves will have to move on quickly, as defending National Champion Duke will greet Stony Brook at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium at 7 p.m. on April 15.
Skyler Gilbert contributed to this story.
