April 27, 2001

Stony Brook, N.Y. - No. 16 UMBC vs. Stony Brook Game Notes

Date: Saturday, April 28, 2001
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Site: Seawolves Field, Stony Brook, N.Y.
Media: TV: MSG Network (taped) - to be aired Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. Radio: WUSB 90.1 FM

Backdrop: Stony Brook looks for its fourth win in a row as it wraps up the 2001 home slate today against UMBC. The Seawolves look to knock off a ranked opponent for the first time since 1997.

Last Time Out: The Seawolves won their third straight with a 13-4 win over Manhattan on Wednesday. With the score tied at three in the second quarter, SB scored 10 of the next 11 goals to secure the victory. Kevin Pall once again led the way for Stony Brook, scoring four times. Matt Campolettano chipped in with three goals and netminder Steve Armsworthy made seven stops to earn his fifth win of the season.

All-American Pall? Pall, the nation's leading scorer with 46 goals, is taking aim at the Stony Brook record books. With two games remaining, Pall is on the verge of breaking a record that has stood up for the past 16 seasons. John Warrack's single-season record of 48 goals set in 1985 appears to be in jeopardy as Pall hasn't shown any signs of letting up. On Wednesday, Pall eclipsed the best mark of any player since moving to the Division I level which was held by Dave Fritz who totalled 44 goals in 1990. Tony Cabrera finished with 43 in the same year. His 46 goals ties him for the second-best single- season effort in school history - he has now scored in 28 straight games and has 12 multiple-goal games this season, including nine hat tricks to his credit. On Monday, he earned ECAC Lacrosse League honors for the second time this season. The only other player to earn the honor more than once this year is Keith Cromwell, the senior All-American attackman from Rutgers.

Pitching Camp: Matt Campolettano turned in his best effort of the season on Wednesday with three goals, including the gamewinner in the second quarter. He has scored five goals in his last two games.

Arms Wide Open: Since Steve Armsworthy took over in goal six games ago, the Seawolves have been hot. SB is 4-2 in that stretch and Armsworthy has been a big reason why. His .649 save percentage ranks first in the ECAC Lacrosse League and third in the nation. He trails only Trevor Tierney of Princeton (.682) and Pat McGinnis of Maryland (.662). A strong finish and Armsworthy could make a run at the national save percentage title - something that has been done once before in Stony Brook history. In 1998, Greg Taylor captured the save percentage crown by posting a .671 mark.

Series Data: UMBC holds a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series. SB is 0-2 at home against the Retrievers.

Scouting The Opponent: UMBC has lost two in a row and four of their last five entering today's contests. The attack is led by Josh Hahn who has 18 goals and seven assists to his credit this year. Middie Charlie Gibson ranks second on the team with 21 points (14g, 7a). Steve Cusa has handled the bulk of the duties in goal, posting a 5-5 record and 9.49 GAA.

Senior Day: There will be a special ceremony before today's game to honor the Stony Brook Lacrosse class of 2001. The Stony Brook lacrosse program will honor seniors Tom Mazeika, Brian Abrams, Jesse Foss and Tom Bushy for their years of support and dedication to SB lacrosse.

News And Notes: The Seawolves haven't been .500 or better this late in the season since 1998 . . . today's game is being taped and will be aired tomorrow evening on MSG at 7:00 p.m. . . SB has never won an ECAC Lacrosse League game

Pretty Good Company: In case you wanted to see where Kevin Pall's goal scoring performance this season ranks among the best in lax history - well he is in very exclusive company. Jon Reese has the all-time single-season record with 82, but here is a list of the best performances from some of the most storied programs in NCAA lacrosse history.

Jon Reese* - Yale* 82 (`90)
Mike McDonald - Air Force 74 (`75)
Gary Gait - Syracuse 70 (`88)
Mike French - Cornell 65 (`76)
Jim Weller - UMass 62 (`81)
Doug Knight - Virginia 56 (`96)
John Fay - Duke 53 (`97)
Jesse Hubbard - Princeton 53 (`96)
Jeff Cook & Terry Riordan- Hopkins 52 (`95)
Mark Douglas - Maryland 52 (`91)
Tom Cafaro - Army 51 (`71)
Brendan Schneck - Navy 51 (`78)
Tom Sweeney - Rutgers 50 (`78)
Kevin Sturm - Towson 49 (`99)
Randy Colley - Notre Dame 49 (`95)
Michael Lacrosse - Hofstra 49 (`89)
Scott Urick - Georgetown 47 (`99)
Gary Hanley - Loyola 47 (`81)
Jason Smith -UMBC 47 (`92)
Dennis Goldstein - UNC 47 (`91)
* All-time Division I record

Home Sweet Home?: Stony Brook has lost 11 straight home finales dating back to the first year of Division I competition when it beat Providence 7-6 in 1989. Since then, the Seawolves are 0-11 in their final home game of the year.

Eight Is Enough: Kevin Pall took over as the nation's leading scorer after a career-high eight-goal effort against Quinnipiac. His previous high had been five which he had done on three occasions prior to that game. His eight goals is the best single game performance in the nation this season.

50-50: Pall's 46 goals and four assists gives him 50 points for the year, marking the first time a Stony Brook player has recorded 50 or more points in a season since Courtney Wilson notched 56 in 1997.

Tough Competition: Stony Brook competes in arguably the most competitive conference in the nation where six of the seven teams rank in the top 20. Counting UMBC today, Stony Brook has faced six ranked opponents in 13 outings.

VS. Ranked Opponents: The Seawolves will look for its first win over a ranked team since 1997 in Saturday's matchup with the Retrievers. Stony Brook is 1-13 versus ranked opponents since 1997 - the lone win came in 1997 against Hartford, which was ranked 17th at the time.

Nifty Nafte: Sophomore face-off specialist Dennis Nafte has been steadily improving all season long. He has won 24 of his last 32 face-offs (.750) and has raised his winning percentage to .511 for the year - the first time he has been over the .500 mark all season long. His improvement on the face-offs has seen him pile up 60 groundballs on the year, tops on the team.

Facing-Off: If Stony Brook plans to record an upset today, it will hope Nafte has a big day. In their four losses to conference opponents, the Seawolves has won only 34 of 101 draws (.337).

The Other Denis: Denis Scannell handles the rest of the face-off duties and the bulk of the midfield duties as well. Scannell has been on the offensive lately. After being held scoreless over the first three games of the season, Scannell has scored in nine straight games heading into today's action. He now has 11 goals for the year, setting a new career-high.

Senior Day: Stony Brook will honor its four seniors before today's game: Jesse Foss, Tom Mazeika, Brian Abrams and Tom Bushy.

Tris And That: Junior attackman Tris Gillen is also enjoying his best season in a Seawolf uniform. Entering this season, his previous season-high point total was 16, set last year. Through 12 games, he has 25 points, third best on the team.

Close, But No Cigar: In its last meeting versus a ranked opponent, SB came very close to upsetting the No. 19 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Stony Brook led by five goals on two occasions but senior All-American Keith Cromwell's goal with 4.5 seconds remaining sunk the Seawolves, 12-11. Kevin Pall was outstanding in that one as well, scoring five times.

Hat Attack: Defenseman Eric Hatkewitz has been a big part of Stony Brook's resurgence. He has been a force in front of the SB goal and has a huge impact as a wing middie on face-offs - he has totaled 37 groundballs on the year, many of them on face-offs. Recently, Hatkewitz has gotten in on the offensive act. He scored his first collegiate goal against Albany and he also has three assists, including two in the last two games.

Major Tom: Tom Mazeika broke out with his best game of the year on Wednesday. He scored twice to up his goal total to four on the year.

Keeping It Clean: Stony Brook has been whistled for far fewer penalities that its opponents this season. Through 12 games, SB has been hit for 53 penalties for 41:00. Opponents have been flagged 65 times for 55:30 in penalty time. James Smith is Stony Brook's biggest offender with nine penalties for the year.

Special Teams: A look at the special teams numbers:
Man-up Stony Brook 18/61 (.295) Opponents 17/50 (.340)

UMBC 15/60 (.250) Opponents 11/52 (.216)

Conference Numbers: Kevin Pall leads all Stony Brook scorers in conference play with 13 goals and one assist. Next is Scannell with four tallies in ECAC action. SB has been outscored 54-33 in those four games.

THE SEAWOLVES ARE.... 4-3 at home
2-3 on the road
0-4 in ECAC play
2-3 when scoring first
6-2 when leading at the half
5-1 when scoring 10 or more goals