STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Seawolves got the 2022 season started with a bang as graduate midfield
Mike McCannell scored the game-winning goal with 26 seconds to play to lift the team to a 13-12 win over Fairfield. Stony Brook used a fourth quarter surge as it outscored Fairfield, 5-2, in the frame to clinch its first victory of the campaign.
McCannell capped off the comeback with his third goal of the day and was setup by sophomore attack
Dylan Pallonetti who got the scoring play started and found McCannell for the tally.
Stony Brook used a balanced offensive attack to pick up its first win of the season. The Seawolves had eight different goal scorers and three of those student-athletes recorded multi-goal performances. McCannell and senior midfield
Matt Anderson both tallied hat tricks, while Pallonetti found the back of the net twice for the Seawolves.
The Seawolves' defense locked in down the stretch and limited the Stags to five goals in the second half and just two scores in the fourth quarter. Senior goalie
Anthony Palma made 13 saves and came up with several keys stops in the second half to keep Fairfield off the board.
STATS AND NOTES
- McCannell recorded the sixth hat trick of his career and first since he scored five goals in a win over Binghamton on April 16, 2021. The graduate scored two of his three goals in crunch time. The game-winning goal was the second of his career and first since he tallied the winner against Bryant on February 20, 2021.
- Anderson finished the game with four points (three goals, one assist) in the win. The senior notched the fourth hat trick of his career and first since he scored four goals in a win at NJIT on April 10, 2021. Anderson scored three goals on four shots and two of his three tallies came in the fourth quarter.
- Pallonetti registered four points (two goals, two assists). The sophomore recorded five shots on goal and picked up a team-high tying five ground balls. The five ground balls tied a career-high. Pallonetti has scored two or more goals in 13 out of the 15 games that he has played in at Stony Brook.
- Graduate midfield Kevin Mack made his Stony Brook debut and totaled four points (one goal, three assists). The three assists were a game-high and were one short of tying a career-high. Mack tied a career-high with three ground balls.
- Graduate midfield Chris Merle made his Stony Brook debut and scored his first goal as a Seawolf. The goal was the first of his career. Merle picked up three ground balls and caused one turnover.
- Graduate midfield Wayne White and sophomore attack Noah Armitage each rattled the cage once.
- Palma made 13 saves and picked up four ground balls. The win was the ninth of his career.
- Junior face-off specialist Renz Conlon went 13-of-25 on face-offs and picked up a team-high five ground balls.
- Graduate defense Jacob Williams picked up three ground balls and caused a team-high three turnovers in his first game as a Seawolf.
- Graduate defensive midfield David Miele-Estrella was crucial on the defensive side of the field in the win. The graduate caused two turnovers and picked up two ground balls.
- Junior long stick midfield Christian Lowd and graduate midfield Matt DeMeo each picked up three ground balls apiece.
- Stony Brook improved to 10-4 all-time against Fairfield and has won five out of the last six contests against the Stags.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"I am proud of the effort. In the first half we did not play our best lacrosse and there was an opportunity there to either continue to go down that path or right the ship. At halftime, the guys did a good job of calming down and taking a deep breath to improve in the second half, which I felt like we did. There is a lot of room to improve, that's what the first game of the season is," said men's lacrosse head coach
Anthony Gilardi.
"We were pretty confident, we had a lot of intensity. We had our ups and downs through the game, but we just had to stay focused and stick to our plan, clean a couple of things up, and we ended up coming out on top at the end," said McCannell.
"I had a lot of fun, I had a great time out there. I was not riding too high with the highs and not riding too low with the lows. It was just great to be out there playing lacrosse," said Mack.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook welcomes Robert Morris to LaValle Stadium on Saturday, February 19, at noon. The game is set to broadcast on ESPN3.
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