Halfway through last season, Kameron Halsall realized that she wanted more. She wanted to compete for a larger goal, and she wanted to find a team that could help her achieve that goal.

Despite being a starter for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Halsall knew who she was and what she was capable of doing. The redshirt sophomore hailing from Caledon, Ontario felt something was missing during her time in Camden, New Jersey. This drive for more led her to enter the transfer portal and search for more options. That was when she found Stony Brook.

“After the season, I came across Stony Brook. After meeting with coach [Joe] Spallina, right away I could tell that he was going to do whatever it takes to win. Obviously, that’s something that really hit me because I’m the same way. I’m very competitive.”

As for where this intensity and desire for competition comes from, Halsall says it comes from home. 

“I felt like the way that coach is, is a lot like the way my mom is,” Halsall said. “So all of the times that he says things to me, it reminds me of my mom and how I was brought up.”

Halsall will need this intensity to keep up the tradition between the sticks for the Seawolves. Just last season, former 4-year starter Anna Tesoriero was named to her fourth All-Conference team and took home the America East Goalie of the Year award for the fourth straight time. Of the 1,469 shots she faced in four years, Tesoriero saved 522 of them for a save percentage of 48.1% in her career. 

These numbers should not phase Halsall, as she collected 117 saves with a 41.8% save rate during her time at Rutgers. Besides, she remains focused on her game.

“Honestly, I don’t really look at anything like that,” Halsall said. “I just kinda focus on myself and hold my own kind of standards and goals. I put a lot of pressure on myself. But I’m not really the type of person that looks at anyone else.”

As for adjusting to the new team, Halsall says it has not been without bumps comparing it to “being like a freshman” as she adjusted. But the team, she says, has been quick to accept her ability as a Seawolf and respect her and what she brings to the team.

That respect has, as of late, paid off in a big way. Halsall saved 10 shots against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 10, including stopping senior attacker Emily Hawryschuk, Inside Lacrosse’s third-best college lacrosse player for either men’s or women’s lacrosse. Hawryschuk, ninth in the nation in goals with 75 last season, was held to only six goals for the whole game. This allowed the Seawolves to come away with the win. 

Halsall’s new teammate, senior midfielder Ally Kennedy, was quick to praise her new teammate’s performance against the Orange; “She stepped in and made huge saves. She’s been great.” Spallina added that “she’s got big game experience and has played against the best teams, and she came here to win games like she did the other day.”

Halsall, who had a relatively quiet game against Ohio State as she watched her teammates drop 20 goals on them, was most active in the clearing game as she went helped execute a perfect 17-17 clears. But for her, it is all about what’s next.

“I’m a next-play goalie,” Halsall said. “I just see every shot I take as just ‘next shot, next shot.’ It’s mostly just that I know another one is coming and I have to be ready for it.”

She has got the skills to make it happen, a team with the same drive to win that she has had since childhood, and Kameron Halsall is ready for what’s next.