April 17, 2003

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team heads to Vermont on Saturday for a pivotal America East conference matchup. Losers of four straight, the Seawolves (3-8, 1-2) need a victory to boost their chances of qualifying for conference postseason play while Vermont (5-5, 2-1) will look to remain among the conference leaders. Face-off is 1 p.m at Centennial Field.

Series Notes: Stony Brook holds a 1-0 series edge following a 12-8 win last year at Stony Brook. Kevin Pall scored three times as he became Stony Brook's all-time scoring leader with 113 career goals to lead the home team to victory.

Last Time Out: Stony Brook lost its fourth straight in a 12-8 home loss to Albany. The Seawolves fell behind 5-2 in the first quarter and were unable to recover as they slipped to 1-2 in America East play. Kevin Shea led Stony Brook with five goals.

About The Seawolves: * The Seawolves' four-game losing streak is the longest since a six-game drought to begin the 2000 season. * Stony Brook has scored in double figures only once in 2003. * Stony Brook will most likely have seven underclassmen in the starting lineup - four freshmen and three sophomores.

An Amazing 13: Kyle Pearl set a new career high by recording a stunning 13 ground balls in last Saturday's outing against Albany to up his team-leading total to 71. His 6.45 ground balls per game leads the America East and ranks fifth in the nation at the Division I level. Through Sunday's action, Pearl has the totaled more ground balls this season than any other player in Division I.

Facing-Off: Against Albany, the Seawolves won an outstanding 20 of 23 draws as Dennis Nafte won 19 of his 22 attempts. Nafte has now won 64.8 percent of his attempts this season which would rank him fifth in the nation. The senior needs to play in one more game to qualify for NCAA statistical consderation after missing three games with an elbow injury. Nafte is second on the team with 43 ground balls.

Five Alive: Senior Kevin Shea scored five times on six shots against Albany, surpassing his previous single-game high of four goals that he set earlier this season versus Quinnipiac. He is now tied for the team lead in goals with 18.

Fab Frosh: Two of Stony Brook's top four scorers are in their rookie seasons. Jason Cappadoro leads the team in scoring with 28 points (18g, 10a) and Adam Marksberry (11g, 3a) is fourth with 14 points. Freshmen have accounted for just under 40 percent of the team's scoring this season.

First Things First: Stony Brook has struggled in the first quarter in its last two losses - getting outscored 10-2 in the last two games. SBU has been outscored 33-16 in the first quarter in 2003.

Double Trouble: Last season, the Seawolves gave up 10 or more goals only four times in 17 games. In 2003, Stony Brook has yielded 10 or more goals in eight of 11 outings.

News And Notes: Stony Brook wraps up the home slate on Wednesday, April 23 against the nationally-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Face-off is 7 p.m. Stony Brook's three seniors will be honored before the game.