Senior Men’s Lacrosse players Challen Rogers and Brody Eastwood may not have started their final season at Stony Brook yet, but both have already totaled a win. Both were selected in Friday afternoon’s Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft, with the Boston Cannons taking Rogers, a midfielder, in the fourth round with the 32nd overall pick and the New York Lizards picking Eastwood, an attackman, in the sixth round with the 52nd overall selection.
“I am excited for both Challen and Brody’s selection in the draft,” Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse head coach Jim Nagle said. “They are both going to have long post-collegiate careers in both professional leagues and as candidates for the Canadian National Team.”
The two have earned their fair share of accolades while on Long Island, thousands of miles from their respective homes in British Columbia. Rogers was named to the All-America East First Team for the second season in a row in 2015, after he earned All-Conference Second Team honors to go with selection to the All-Rookie team in 2013.
In 50 games for the Seawolves, the Coquitlam native has scored 70 goals and contributed 79 assists. The two-way midfielder’s 149 points puts him in ninth all-time for Stony Brook, with a season still left to go.
Next summer, Eastwood will be staying close to his college home. Stony Brook Women’s Lacrosse head coach Joe Spallina, who is also the Lizards’ head coach and general manager, selected the Seawolves’ finisher.
Eastwood has led the team in goal-scoring in each of the last three seasons, putting him within 29 goals of tying Jordan McBride’s record of 175 career tallies heading into the year. Last season, the Victoria native set a new Stony Brook mark for goals in a campaign with 62, shattering 2010 and 2011 first-team All-American Kevin Crowley’s previous total of 51 in a year. It was also tied for second-most in the entire nation.
That performance helped Eastwood earn All-America East Second Team recognition after also making his way onto the conference’s All-Rookie squad and All-Championship team in 2013.
Both will need to keep up the level of play that earned their selection in the draft this season, as one Seawolf played his final year in 2015. Mike Rooney set the career mark for most points totaled by a Stony Brook Lacrosse player with 253. He finished second in the country in total points last campaign with 111 to Albany’s Lyle Thompson, who became the first ever to win back-to-back Tewaaraton Awards as the best player in the nation.
Rogers and Eastwood will look to account for the void that Rooney leaves behind when Stony Brook kicks off its season on Feb. 16 at home when Sacred Heart visits Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
