April 18, 2009

Box Score

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook's offense stayed in a high gear tonight as the Seawolves saw their goal total increase in each of the first three quarters as they downed America East rival Binghamton in men's lacrosse action in LaValle Stadium. Three different players scored three goals for Stony Brook, including sophomore Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, B.C.) who led the squad with five points on three goals and a pair of assists. The victory moved SBU into a first-place tie with UMBC in the league standings and assured the Seawolves of a berth in the America East Championship.

"We played a pretty good ball game tonight," said Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell. "It was the best game of the season for us. We have been practicing well the last couple of weeks and you could see things coming together. Today it just seemed like it clicked; we are playing pretty good lacrosse right now."

It was Crowley who got things going for Stony Brook (7-4, 3-1 America East), notching an unassisted goal just a minute and a half in. Stony Brook clung to its lead until midway through the quarter when Binghamton (2-11, 1-3 America East), took advantage of its first man-up opportunity to tie things up on a shot from Frank Donlon. The Seawolves struck back in the final minutes of the quarter, getting goals from sophomore Jordan McBride (New Westminster, B.C.), his 30th of the season, and sophomore Timmy Trenkle (Commack, N.Y.) to take a 3-1 lead after a quarter of play.

Freshman Kyle Belton (Langley, B.C.) increased the Stony Brook advantage to three goals, putting one past the Bearcat goalkeeper after taking a pass from McBride. Freshman Josh Russell (Denver, Colo.) then capped off a 4-0 SBU run with his first career goal at the 9:21 mark. After Binghamton got one back on a goal from Brian Donahue, Belton notched his second on a man-up opportunity before Crowley put another unassisted goal on the board with just 16 seconds left in the half to put the Seawolves up 7-2.

Stony Brook then came out in the third quarter and essentially put the game away with a five-goal burst. The Seawolves notched three of those in the first half of the quarter, getting scores from freshman Robbie Campbell (Delta, B.C.), McBride and Belton, to take a 10-2 lead. Binghamton did not go quietly, however, coming back to score three times in a four-minute span to cut the Stony Brook lead down to 10-5. McBride and freshman Jared LeVerne (Jericho, N.Y.) then scored unassisted goals just 33 seconds apart near the end of the quarter to halt the Bearcat threat and essentially put the game out of reach.

Binghamton out scored Stony Brook 4-2 in the fourth quarter, but the 12-5 lead the Seawolves had going into the final stanza was more than enough to hold off the Bearcats. Binghamton out shot Stony Brook, 31-30, but the Seawolves held a significant, 44-24, advantage in ground balls. Stony Brook also won the battle in the face-off circle, taking 16 of 25 attempts, led by sophomore Adam Rand's (Niantic, Conn.) 15-of-20 performance.

Crowley, McBride and Belton all scored three goals for Stony Brook, which had seven different players score. McBride has now scored in 18 straight games for the Seawolves, who have scored 10 or more goals in each game of their three-game win streak. Donlon led Binghamton with three goals, while Chris Mulheron added four assists for the Bearcats.

Stony Brook will step outside of conference play for the final time this season when it travels to Long Island rival Hofstra for its next game. The two will face-off on Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m.