Stony Brook-Virginia Photo Gallery Stony Brook, N.Y. - For the second time in nine months, #5 Stony Brook and top-ranked Virginia battled in an unforgettable lacrosse game, but the Cavaliers (3-0) prevailed again, topping the Seawolves (0-1), 11-10, in overtime. Senior Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, British Columbia) led Stony Brook with four goals and an assist and senior Brett Drost (Wading River, N.Y.) had the game of his collegiate career, scoring a career-high three goals and adding an assist. Steele Stanwick led all players with five goals and two assists for Virginia.
"Obviously we're disappointed with the loss, but this is the first game of the season, and we've got a ton of lacrosse to play," head coach Rick Sowell said. "I thought we played hard. Last year's loss to Virginia ended the season, but this time it's just the first game. We'll be prepared and ready to play Marist next week."
Virginia led by three twice in the fourth quarter, and took a 10-8 lead with 1:21 remaining in regulation after a goal from Colin Briggs. Crowley, who scored the 22nd hat trick of his career, tallied his fourth goal of the game after scoring on a pass from junior Russ Bonanno (Seaford, N.Y.) with 21 seconds left.
After Stony Brook called a timeout, senior Adam Rand (Niantic, Conn.), who dominated the face-offs against Virginia (17-of-26), once again, won the ensuing draw, setting the Seawolves up with the final possession of the game. Bonanno, who played in his first game as a Seawolf after transferring from Nassau Community College, got the ball behind the crease with nine seconds left. Attempting to elude his defender, Bonanno made a number of moves before going left and diving to beat Cavaliers goalie Adam Ghitelman, sending the 4,300+ fans into a frenzy, to tie the game at 10 with just three seconds left.
Rand, who won eight face-offs to end the game, created the first opportunity for Stony Brook in overtime. After securing the ground ball, Rand found junior Robbie Campbell (Delta, British Columbia), whose shot went high. Following a timeout, Crowley dodged his defender and found space, but his low shot was nicely saved by Ghitelman.
Virginia successfully cleared the ball before turning the ball over. Stony Brook regained possession, but an errant pass was intercepted by Stanwick, who scored the game-winner with 44 seconds left in overtime.
The fourth quarter and overtime featured a combined 11 goals from both teams after a total of 10 were scored through the first three.
Stony Brook took a 2-1 lead midway through the second quarter, just its third lead against Virginia in the series. Drost's goal gave the Seawolves a two-goal lead before Virginia tied it at three.
Drost scored at 11:52 of the third quarter to give Stony Brook its final lead of the game. Virginia outscored Stony Brook, 3-0, the rest of the quarter and led 6-4 going into the fourth.
Virginia took a 7-4 lead on Mark Cockerton's man-up goal with 7:12 left in the fourth. Crowley and Drost connected just 22 seconds later and senior Timmy Trenkle (Commack, N.Y.) scored the first of his two goals to cut the deficit to one.
Matt White's man-up goal gave the Cavaliers their second three-goal lead of the game with 3:29 remaining. But 29 seconds later, Drost came up big again, scoring an unassisted goal after creating from behind the crease.
On the next possession, Trenkle made it 9-8 after getting his hands free on a face dodge and scoring off an assist from Campbell.
Senior Rob Camposa (Syosset, N.Y.), making his first start since the America East Championship game against UMBC in 2009, stopped eight shots. Rand led all players with seven ground balls and junior Kyle Moeller (South Setauket, N.Y.), also playing his first game for Stony Brook, caused three turnovers.
Besides Stanwick's five goals, Cockerton and Briggs each had two goals. The Cavaliers were 3-for-5 on man-up situations.
Stony Brook is on the road next Saturday, travelling upstate to Poughkeepsie to face Marist at 1:00
