STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The Anthony Gilardi era kicked off on Thursday as the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team went through its first regular-season workout under the first-year head coach.

The Seawolves open their season on Feb. 11 against St. John's at LaValle Stadium.

"It's exciting," said Gilardi, a native Long Islander who spent the past eight seasons at Towson. "The first practice is all optimism and excitement and to see what the guys did over break to come back ready to go. Now we get to see what it looks like."

Gilardi's squad has 37 returnees. That group claimed the 2019 America East regular-season championship.

The Seawolves also welcome a dozen newcomers, including nine freshmen. 
 
Among those returning are a pair of first-team All-America East performers — senior attacker Tom Haun and senior midfielder Chris Pickel Jr.
 
Also returning: a trio of second-team all-conference selections — senior goalie Michael Bollinger, senior midfielder Harrison Matsuoka and junior defenseman Danny Cassidy. 
 
The Seawolves will go through three days of fundamental workouts to begin their rigorous training.

"We want to be fundamentally better than we were in the fall," Gilardi said. "So I'm focused on those things, plus coming together as a team. We want to hammer our culture of championship effort, toughness and family. These three days get us back in that mindset and get us working on those things."

Said Pickel: "He's really just changed the culture the last couple of months while being here. Everything is completely different. It's just been a positive impact on all of us — especially the seniors. We're just really excited to be out here and work. We've got a game in 32 days. So we're ready to work and get after it.

"I think this team is capable of great things. We were the first seed last year going into the [conference] tournament. And we've got a lot of guys returning — a lot of seniors. I think we're going to win the America East this year."
 
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