ALBANY, N.Y. – The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team was unable to advance in the America East Championships, falling to top-seeded Albany, 19-6, Thursday night at Casey Stadium. A high-scoring second quarter and success on the face-off throughout the night allowed the Great Danes to get by Stony Brook. The Seawolves finish the 2017 season at 7-7 on the year, while Albany moves to 13-2.  
 
Nagle's Reaction
"Congratualtions to Albany, they were the better team tonight," said head coach Jim Nagle after the game. "I'm happy with our team's season, I thought we had a really tough schedule, but we had a top-10 win and we did well for who we were. We are a very young team and to get to the conference tournament in this very competitive conference was certainly an accomplishment for us."
 
Highlights

• Albany got things going early, scoring the first four goals of the game.
• Senior Ryan Norton (Garden City, N.Y.) got the Seawolves on the board when he bounced in a shot from the right side late in the first quarter for his first goal of the year.
• Despite trailing 4-1 by the end of the opening period, the Stony Brook defense had an impressive first quarter, disrupting the Albany attack throughout but the unit struggled to come up with the ground balls to turn possession.
•  The defense seemed to carry its momentum into the second quarter as freshman Michael Bollinger (Holbrook, N.Y.) made a stick save on the opening possession and junior Rob Talay (Nesconset, N.Y.) intercepted a pass and took it down field.
• The Great Danes were held scoreless for nearly a full quarter's time, but eventually rallied for eight straight goals in the second quarter to pull away before halftime.
• Sophomore Dan Comber (Delmar, N.Y.) checked in for the Seawolves to finish out the first half in goal. After letting up a quick goal, Comber made back-to-back saves late in the quarter.
• Senior Jeff Reh (Sound Beach, N.Y.) tried to get things going for Stony Brook as he bounced in a shot, and senior Ryan Bitzer (Riverhead, N.Y.) added another four minutes later as he buried a pass from freshman Tom Haun (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.).
• Freshman Cory VanGinhoven (Fort Mill, N.C.) rounded out the third quarter for the Seawolves when he flicked back the rebounded save of a strong shot by senior Alex Corpolongo (Purdys, N.Y.).
• The Seawolves add two more goals in the fourth quarter to make it six different players to score on the night.
• Junior Brandon Maciejewski (Penn Yan, N.Y.) played the full final 30 minutes of the game in goal, finishing with four stops, while allowing seven goals.

 
Notes

• Bitzer extended his points streak that dates back to the 2015 season to 35 games with a goal.
• This was the 16^th straight America East Championships for the Seawolves as the team has qualified for the conference post season every season it has been a member.
• Stony Brook is now 4-9 against the Great Danes in the America East Championships.
• Talay and sophomore Ryland Rees (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led the defensive unit with career highs in caused turnovers, tallying two and three, respectively.