After netting the first goal of the game for the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team, freshman attackman Cory VanGinhoven celebrated with a chest bump to his teammate, senior midfielder Alex Corpolongo. Stony Brook faced a 4-0 deficit early on, but did not seem fazed after completing a come-from-behind win against Sacred Heart in its previous game.
The Seawolves took multiple shot attempts and had a possession that lasted over two minutes, but could not find the back of the net after winning the face-off that started the second quarter. VanGinhoven eventually scooped up a ground ball that was behind the net and scored with ease in front of the crease. This kick-started the momentum swing that the Seawolves needed direly, marking the score at 4-1.
After facing a 4-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter of game play, Stony Brook scored 14 unanswered goals against St. John’s in Queens on Sunday afternoon, ultimately winning by a score of 14-5.
Corpolongo faked a pass to his right and quickly went back to his left, feeding freshman midfielder Wayne White on the left wing who hit a powerful shot on man-up offense, tying the game at 4 all with 2:24 left to go in the half.
Face-off specialist senior midfielder Jay Lindsay was able to pull off a textbook fast break pushing transition up midfield and passing to the quarterback of the team: senior attackman Ryan Bitzer. Bitzer, who finished with five assists and one goal on the day, assisted VanGinhoven for his second goal out of three on the day.
Stony Brook scored two goals in 11 seconds to go into halftime ahead, 5-4.
The Red Storm committed three penalties in the second quarter and the Seawolves capitalized, netting three man-up goals. Stony Brook has flourished in man-up opportunities under head coach Jim Nagle, scoring on 32 of 59 attempts last season which led the America East conference.
Extra possessions, penalties and more shots on goal were key for Stony Brook in the second quarter. The Seawolves were able to win five out of six face-offs, score on all man-up opportunities, and outshoot the Red Storm, 15-4.
The offensive dominance did not stop for Stony Brook in the second half; they tallied up nine more goals, including two from Corpolongo, who sniped goals into the back of the net from 12 and 18 yards out. The midfielder needs just 26 more goals this season to crack the top 10 on the all-time career goals list at Stony Brook University.
Junior midfielder Justin Corpolongo of the St. John’s Red Storm is the brother of Alex Corpolongo. This game was the last time the Corpolongo brothers will face off against each other as college athletes. They have played each other twice before in college, each tallying a game in the win column. Stony Brook was able to get the upper hand in this game which gave Alex the advantage in the win column, 2-1.
With two more man-up opportunities in the second half, the Seawolves were able to establish goals on each possession. Stony Brook went a perfect five-for-five on goals scored with a man-up, helping them get some breathing room in the second half.
The final extra man goal showed just how gassed the St. John’s defense was from playing with one man down so often in the game. Bitzer found freshman attackman Connor Grippe wide-open on the crease and he promptly dumped the ball into the net with ease to extend the lead to 12-4.
The 14-0 run by Stony Brook ended in garbage time as sophomore attack Colin Duffy had a goal in the final minutes of the game, ending the game by a score of 14-5 with Stony Brook completing the comeback in back-to-back games.
Stony Brook will play the final of their three-game road trip to start the season on Saturday, Feb. 25 against Brown at 1 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island before they return home to play Fairfield on Mar. 4 at 1 p.m..
