May 2, 2009

Box Score

Baltimore, Md. - After scoring 18 goals on Wednesday, Stony Brook's offense was held under 10 goals for the first time in seven games tonight as UMBC took an 11-7 win over the Seawolves in the America East Championship game. Sophomore Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, B.C.) scored four goals for Stony Brook, which fell to 9-6 with the loss.

"They are a good team," said Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell. "They have some experience playing in this game where we did not, but I am proud of the team and our season. We did not give up and hung in there. Unfortunately we just did not make as many plays as UMBC did."

Both teams got on the board quickly in the game. Stony Brook struck first when Crowley put one home from the right side at 13:12. UMBC (12-3) answered just 14 seconds later, however, tying the game on a Ryan Shields goal. The Seawolves retook the lead three minutes later when junior Tom Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y.) flipped one in past an unsuspecting UMBC goalkeeper, but the Retrievers knotted things up again when Ryan Smith scored off an SBU turnover. UMBC then shutdown the Stony Brook offense the rest of the half while adding two more scores to take a 4-2 lead after one.

Stony Brook's offensive drought continued in the second quarter when the Seawolves were blanked on just three shots. UMBC did not fare much better thanks to 12 first half saves by junior Rob Camposa (Syosset, N.Y.). The Retrievers did score the only goal of the quarter, getting a man-up goal at 10:51 to increase their lead to 5-2.

UMBC continued to hold the Stony Brook offense in check in the third quarter while its offense scored four more times to extend its run to eight as the Retrievers pushed its lead to 9-2 on another man-up goal with 4:02 left in the quarter. Crowley finally broke the scoring draught for the Seawolves, getting his second of the game with 3:33 left, the first SBU goal in over 36 minutes.

Stony Brook trailed 10-3 entering the fourth and it proved to be too big a deficit to overcome for the Seawolves. Sophomore Robbie Campbell (Delta, B.C.) scored the first goal of the quarter off a nice feed from Compitello to cut into the UMBC lead. The Retrievers answered with a goal before Stony Brook went on its first run of the game. Campbell started it with an unassisted goal at the 9:50 mark. Crowley added his third and fourth scores of the game, with his final tally coming with 3:14 left to cut the UMBC lead down to four. But that proved to be the final goal of the game as UMBC went on to claim the America East crown.

Crowley led all players with his four goals, which matched his career-high. He was named to the All-Tournament team along with juniors Steven Waldeck (Levittown, N.Y.) and Chris Gignilliat (Cicero, N.Y.). Ryan Smith and Matt Latham led UMBC with three goals apiece.