Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse will host reigning national champion Maryland and Syracuse in a trio of exhibition games this October, Stony Brook Athletics announced on Friday.
The Seawolves, who finished the 2017 campaign with a 7-7 record, will face off with the Terps at 11:30 a.m. to start the day on October 22 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium. The Terps will then play the Orange at 1:00 p.m., followed by an Orange-Seawolf matchup at 3:00 p.m., according to Stony Brook Athletics.
“Our team is excited to finish our fall segment competing against two of the most storied programs in the history of the sport on our home field,” Seawolves head coach Jim Nagle said in an email. “It should be a great test for our guys.”
The games will be a first glance at how the team will perform against top-level competition without key players who graduated in the spring. Midfielder Alex Corpolongo, a prolific scorer (95 goals in his career – good for ninth in program history) who finished his career with a 31 game scoring streak, graduated and was drafted 50th overall by the Boston Cannons of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL).
Other key departures include attackman Ryan Bitzer, who led the team in points with 50, and midfielder Jay Lindsay, who participated in 68 percent of the Seawolves’ faceoffs last season. Midfielder Jeff Reh was drafted 70th overall by the Long Island Lizards of the MLL, coached by Stony Brook Women’s Lacrosse head coach Joe Spallina.
As the leading scorers among returning players, rising sophomore attackmen Tom Haun and Cory Van Ginhoven will likely be focal points of the offense. Rising senior long stick midfielder Tyler Anderson participated in 17 percent of face-offs for the team last season — second only to Lindsay — and would be the likeliest candidate to take a majority of face-offs.
Stony Brook has not played Syracuse since they were elevated to Division I status in 2000, but have competed against Maryland three times in the program’s Division I history. Most recently, the No. 1 Terps visited LaValle Stadium on March 8, 2014, defeating the unranked Seawolves 11-8. Almost a year earlier, Stony Brook traveled to College Park, Maryland and lost 13-7. The first matchup between Stony Brook and Maryland was in 2003, a 16-4 home loss.
The day before the Terps return to LaValle stadium on October 22, Stony Brook will host an annual scouting combine event known as Island Uprising Individual Showcase. Top high school lacrosse prospects have been invited to the event to work with 20 college coaches and compete with the best talent in the nation in a daylong showcase.
