Fairfield, Conn. -- The Seawolves will open up the 2017 season at Sacred Heart on Tuesday, Feb. 14^th at 3 p.m. The team begins the season with three-straight road games before its home-opener in March.
 
 
Scouting Sacred Heart
The Pioneers were picked sixth in the NEC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll. Sacred Heart returns six of its top seven scorers from 2016, including a pair of 20-goal scorers in midfielders Brian Masi and Max Tuttle.  Sacred Heart's defense will be led by senior long stick midfielder Ryan O'Donoghue who was fourth in the nation in caused turnovers with 34 and second on the team with 36 ground balls, earning First Team All-Conference honors. Fifth-year defenseman Chase Godfrey will also be a factor for the defense after being named Second Team All-Conference last season, posting 30 groundballs and 17 caused turnovers. 
 
Scouting the Seawolves
Stony Brook's offense will be lead by seniors Ryan Bitzer (Riverhead, N.Y.), Jeff Reh (Sound Beach, N.Y.), Alex Corpolongo (Purdys, N.Y.) and Jay Lindsay (Burlington, Ontario). Bitzter was fifth on the team in points last year after scoring 23 goals and adding 18 assists. Reh will look to lead the midfield after a successful junior season that saw him finish third on the team in ground balls (37) and caused turnovers (11), while also adding 14 points last season. He and fellow senior Corpolongo were named to the All-America East First Team. Corpolongo is the top returning scorer for the Seawolves after finishing his junior season second on the team with 36 goals. Lindsay is back for his final season after earning second team all-conference accolades last year and leading the team with 90 ground balls. Sophomore Justin Pugal (Manorville, N.Y.) rounds out the top returners in the midfield. He played in all 16 games as a freshman, picking up 15 ground balls and tallying three points.
 
Junior Tyler Anderson (Wading River, N.Y.) and sophomore Ryland Rees (P. Coquitlam, British Columbia) are the top returners for Stony Brook's defense. The pair combined for 75 ground balls and 10 points last season, each playing in all 16 games. Rees was named to the America East All-Rookie Team in 2016 and played for Team Canada over the summer. The Seawolves will have junior Brandon Maciejewski (Penn Yan, N.Y.) in goal this season. Maciejewski played in 13 games as a sophomore, logging 360 minutes. He made 67 saves on the year, good for a .554 save percentage.  
 
Preseason Picks
Stony Brook was picked fourth in the America East Coaches Preseason Poll, as well as receiving votes in the USILA/Nike 2017 preseason coaches' poll.
Reh was named a preseason All-American in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook issue. The short stick defensive midfielder earned a place on the third team by the publication after receiving All-America East honors last season and posting a career-high nine goals and five assists in 16 games for the Seawolves.
 
 
Newcomers   
The Seawolves welcome 19 new faces this season. Eighteen of those 19 being freshmen and one transfer will look to fill big roles after the loss of eight starters. Ryan Norton (Garden City, N.Y.) comes to Stony Brook for his fifth year after playing football at Syracuse from 2012-2015.