University of Albany Men's Lacrosse Upends UMBC In America East Semifinals; Meets Stony Brook for Championship - UAlbany Sports 2010

Baltimore, Md. - Dave Brock scored two second-half goals and goalkeeper John Carroll made 11 saves, as UAlbany upended UMBC, 11-7, in the semifinal round of the America East Conference Championship on Wednesday, May 5 at UMBC Stadium. The Great Danes, the tournament's third seed, will travel to top seed Stony Brook for the conference title game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

UAlbany (5-10) doubled its halftime lead by blanking the second-seeded Retrievers in the third quarter. Matt Johnson connected on a hard bounce shot midway through the period. Brock canned an extra-man goal just over one minute later when he rolled around midfielder Michael Bryan from the left for an 8-4 advantage.

Rob Grimm, who had three goals and one assist, put UMBC (4-9) on the scoreboard first in the final period when he cut to the top of the crease to finish off Maxx Davis' right-to-left crossing pass. But the Great Danes came back with pair of goals to post their biggest lead. After a Retriever turnover and a delay-of-game penalty, Rocky Bonitatibus drilled a shot into the net with a man-advantage. Brock picked up a loose ball in the middle of the zone and sent a sidearm delivery past goalie Adam Cohen for a 10-5 margin with 5:24 to play. Matt Kehoe hit an empty net against a defensive double-team two minutes to seal the outcome.

"We switched between zone and man (defenses) and that kept them off balance," said defenseman Mark Kelly, who collected five ground balls and caused two turnovers. "(John) Carroll made some big saves. Our intensity was high and we played with pride."

The Great Danes, who had lost five straight on this field to UMBC, including a 12-7 decision during the regular season, erased an early 1-0 deficit by scoring four times in a span of one minute and 41 seconds. Freshman Mike Woods tallied his first as a collegian from the right to put his team ahead after defenseman Brendan Gleason picked up a turnover and started the transition play. Jack Reynolds added the second of two first-quarter goals by dodging from the top and shooting with his left hand. Anthony Ostrander finished the run when he scored with the long pole from the left after Matt Mackenzie won the face-off.

UMBC's Chris Jones scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to one by the end of the quarter. He fired a shot into the net from left against the visitors' zone defense and then wheeled to his right shoulder to score from the inside off Rob Grimm's feed. Dwayne Stewart, a redshirt freshman, kept the Great Danes in front with a pair of second-quarter goals. He blasted a 15-yard shot to right of goalkeeper Adam Cohen high into the cage, as his team took a 6-4 lead to the intermission.

"We were physical and checked hard," said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, whose team ended a four-game skid in the series that dated back to the 2007 conference championship game. "It was a team effort and we got contributions from everyone. Our short-stick midfielders played great one-on-one defense and were certainly a key to our success."

Paw Prints: UAlbany has advanced to the America East championship final for the eighth time in the last last nine years ... John Carroll has made 10 or more saves in 12 of 15 starting assignments ... Dave Brock is among the America East leaders with 32 goals ... the senior has netted two-plus goals against 11 opponents this season ... Dwayne Stewart scored a career-high two goals ... Anthony Ostrander's first-quarter goal was his first at the collegiate level ... UMBC's Matt Latham and Kyle Wimer, who combined for 10 points in their team's regular-season win over the Great Danes, were held scoreless in tonight's semifinal ... UAlbany and Stony Brook will play in the America East championship game for the third time, having previously met for the title in 2002 and 2005.

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information