April 4, 2009

Box Score

Burlington, Vt. - Stony Brook's men's lacrosse team took a 9-5 lead into the fourth quarter and then held off a Vermont rally to claim a 10-8 victory this afternoon on a damp and cold day in Vermont. Eight different players scored for Stony Brook, while junior Charlie Paar (Huntington, N.Y.) made a season-high 18 saves in goal, seven in the fourth quarter, as the Seawolves claimed their first America East Conference victory of the season.

"Our guys came out and played hard," said Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell. "Our offense gave us a good start with that lead at the half. Charlie (Paar) was outstanding the whole game and made some big saves for us today. I am very happy to come away with a road win against a tough Vermont team."

Stony Brook (5-4, 1-1 AE) struck first in the game when sophomore Jordan McBride (New Westminster, B.C.) took a pass from junior Tom Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and worked himself free in front of the Vermont goal for an easy score that turned out to be the only score of the first quarter.

A minute and a half into the second quarter Vermont (4-6, 0-2 AE) tied things up off a goal from Andrew Kelleher, but just 18 seconds later sophomore Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, B.C.) scored twice over a seven-second span to put the Seawolves up 3-1, a lead they would not relinquish. Sophomore Timmy Trenkle (Commack, N.Y.) and Compitello added scores to complete a 4-0 SBU run that gave the Seawolves a 5-1 lead midway through the quarter.

Vermont broke the Stony Brook run with a goal at the 6:39 mark, but junior Steven Waldeck (Levittown, N.Y.) answered two minutes later with a shot, breaking his stick as he put the Seawolves up 6-2, a score that held until halftime.

Less than a minute into the third quarter McBride notched his 27th goal of the season to push the Stony Brook advantage to 7-2, its largest of the game. Vermont, however, scored two quick goals before the 10-minute mark to get back into the contest, with Kelleher getting his second of the game for the Catamounts. The Seawolves then matched the two goals, with freshman Graham Adams (Royal Oak, Mich.) and junior Chris Scott (North Babylon, N.Y.) picking up the scores to push the SBU advantage back up to five at 9-4.

Vermont came back again with another pair of goals, drawing back to within three at 9-6 less than a minute into the fourth quarter. At the 7:50 mark freshman Robbie Campbell (Delta, B.C.) came in on the right side of the Vermont goal and rifled a shot that beat the keeper for a 10-6 Stony Brook lead to halt the Catamount run.

Again Vermont came back and scored twice, coming within two at 10-8 with 3:26 left on a score from Liam Thomas. But Paar turned aside most of the Catamount attempts, including a spectacular save while sliding across the mouth of the goal. Vermont was up a man in the final minute as well, but the Stony Brook defense was up to the task, forcing a turnover that enabled the Seawolves to run out the clock and preserve the victory.

McBride and Crowley finished with two goals to lead Stony Brook, which also picked up 20 ground balls and won 12 of 21 face-off attempts. Vermont, which outshot the Seawolves by a 44-23 margin, was led by Kelleher's three goals.

Stony Brook will play on the road again next week, when it travels to Hartford on Saturday, April 11 for a 1:00 p.m. conference game against the Hawks.