Men's Lacrosse's Season Ends in America East Conference Semifinal Loss

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Jordan McBride had three of his five goals in the first half to lead Stony Broke to an 18-12 victory over UAlbany in the semifinal round of the America East Conference Tournament on Wednesday, April 29 at LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves advanced to the championship final for the first time since 2005. UMBC, the top seed, edged Binghamton, 9-8, in double overtime in the other semifinal matchup.

They used a four-goal barrage in a span of two minutes and 17 seconds of the first quarter to take control. Timmy Trenkle spun to his left shoulder and a shot high into the far corner past starting goalkeeper Drew DiCioccio to ignite that outburst. Jack Hewitt drilled an eight-yard shot when he came uncovered after a crossing pass and Tom Compitello followed 20 seconds later when he circled around the cage to score from the left side. McBride then rifled an underhanded shot into the net for a 5-1 lead.

They had their lead cut in half when freshman Joe Resetarits scored from the right side off a long crossing pass from John Alpizar. But Stony Brook, the nation’s 20th-ranked team, regrouped with three unanswered in a one-minute-and-34-second stretch. Kevin Crowley, who had one goal and four assists, moved around a long-stick midfielder to convert a bounce shot. Kyle Belton and McBride added consecutive goals for an 8-3 advantage.

UAlbany trailed by five at halftime, but saw the lead swell to eight in the late stages of the third period. Chris Scott, a junior attackman who had a career-high scoring total with four goals and one assist, delivered from the top of the crease after Comiptello spun on the back side of the net to find him. Belton connected with his third goal of the game for a 15-7 cushion with 19.7 seconds remaining.

The Great Danes, who were meeting Stony Brook in the conference semifinals for the fourth consecutive year, then strung together four in a row. Corey Small, who netted three of his four goals in the final stanza, scored twice off rebounds, the second in a man-advantage situation after SBU goalkeeper Rob Camposa stopped Brian Caufield’s blast from the point. Dave Brock then canned an underhanded shot around a defensive midfielder to close the gap to 15-11 with 6:49 to play.

The Seawolves, who had endured five consecutive America East postseason losses to UAlbany since winning the championship in 2002, quickly ended that threat. McBride hit an open net with reserve goalkeeper John Carroll out of the cage as his team employed a defensive double-team. Scott added a pair of goals 37 seconds apart as the Great Danes continued to double the ball.

“The first play set the tone when we won the face-off and then turned the ball over,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, whose program’s streak of seven consecutive America East championship appearances comes to an end. “We did a poor job of handling the ball. Their face-off guy has a great night and they responded every time we made a run. They jumped on us and we had to play catch up all the way.”

Compitello had two goals and four assists for the Seawolves, who shared the regular-season crown with UMBC. UAlbany’s Resetarits finished with four goals, while Brock tallied a career-high three.

Notes: Corey Small finished his career with 109 goals, one behind UAlbany Hall of Famer Cort Kim ... Small is sixth on the all-time list ... senior Chris Schongar, a two-time all-conference selection, is second on the program’s Division I list with 205 ground balls ... Joe Resetarits scored three or more points in 11 of 14 games played as freshman ... UAlbany ended up with a .500 record for the second consecutive season ...