May 3, 2007

Final Stats

Albany, N.Y. - The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team had its season come to an end as the fourth-seeded Seawolves fell to the top-seeded Albany Great Danes in the semifinals of the America East Tournament on Thursday evening. With the loss the Seawolves finish their season 8-5. Albany moves to 13-2 and will face UMBC in the America East finals on Saturday.

"You have to give credit to Albany," said head coach Rick Sowell. "They are a very talented team and played great tonight. This is a tough way for the season to come to a close, but I am proud of this team and am optimistic for the future of our program here at Stony Brook."

Stony Brook jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Owen Adams found the back of the net less than one minute in as the Seawolves led 1-0 with 14:07 to play in the opening quarter. Just over a minute later Albany answered when Merrick Thomson scored off a Steve Ammann pass to spark a 9-0 Great Dane run. Thomson found the back of the cage four times during the run and assisted Derek Dale on a goal to cap the run as Albany led 9-1 with 8:14 remaining in the half.

With just under five minutes left in the half Ryan Hughes tallied an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 9-2. Hughes' goal ended a Stony Brook scoring drought of over 24 minutes. With 3:09 left in the half Thomson scored his fifth goal of the half and two minutes later Jordan Levine scored a man down goal as the Great Danes led 11-2 at the half.

The Seawolves were forced to play defense for most of the half as Albany outshot Stony Brook 30-12. Brendan Callahan was active in the net for the Seawolves as the senior goaltender made 11 saves in the first half.

Albany maintained its momentum in the second half as they outscored the Seawolves 6-3 in the final 30 minutes. Adams tallied a pair of goals in the second half and Larry Cerasi scored with 11:33 to play to cap the Seawolves scoring. Thomson added two more goals in the second half and Kyle Brunk scored the games last goal with 1:37 to play as Albany won, 17-5.

Thomson led the Great Danes, scoring seven goals and tallying two assists to lead all scorers with nine points.

Adams led the Stony Brook offense with three goals and Callahan finished the game with 15 saves.