The standing-room-only crowd of 10,024 at LaValle Stadium saw Crowley help get the ball upfield. But then Jordan McBride’s shot was stopped. The top-seeded Cavaliers, one of the marquee names in men’s lacrosse, escaped with a 10-9 victory. Crowley, the Enners Award winner as the nation’s outstanding Division I player, soon felt his disappointment dissolve into pride when he considered how far the Seawolves had come.
Now he is back for his senior season. The rest of the starting midfield returns, too. So does the starting attack. There is a buzz about Stony Brook, which is ranked fifth in the coaches’ poll, the best in program history, after its first trip to the quarterfinals. So Crowley clearly has thoughts about taking the next steps — making the semifinals and claiming the title — in a journey that starts at home Saturday against Virginia, which is ranked No. 1.
“It’s my last year and I always believe in dreaming big,” Crowley said. “It’s going to come down to the work ethic you put in. I think creating that family atmosphere is really important. I don’t believe there’s a limit to how far we can go if we bring it all together by the end of the year.”
One reason the Seawolves can dream big is Crowley, the preseason player of the year in the eyes of Lacrosse Magazine and the nation’s top senior in the eyes of the Hamilton Nationals, who made him the first overall pick in last month’s Major League Lacrosse draft. Last season, he became Stony Brook’s first first-team all-American. Crowley has gone from unheralded in western Canada to stardom on Long Island.
The unlikely story starts with Rick Sowell. He was the coach at St. John’s in July 2006 when he went to the Top 205 lacrosse camp in Maryland and spotted McBride, an attackman who is from the same city as Crowley — New Westminster, British Columbia. McBride had been working as an apprentice carpenter after graduating in 2004 from New Westminster Secondary School.
Sowell began recruiting him. The next month, Stony Brook hired Sowell to fill its coaching vacancy. He quickly called McBride. After McBride committed, he came for a visit in February 2007 and attended a season-opening loss to Virginia. He sat down afterward with Sowell in his office.
“I told him, ‘I know this guy back home who’s better than your best midfielder,’ ” McBride said. “He was like, ‘Tell me about him.’ I was like, ‘He’s 6-4, probably 200 pounds.’ ”
That was Crowley, who had been two grades behind McBride at New Westminster. They were friends from playing junior indoor box lacrosse together for two seasons with the New Westminster Salmonbellies. McBride was also a good friend of Crowley’s sister, Kara. The two players had known each other for several years.
There was no raging recruiting chase in the United States for Crowley out of high school. He said he had to contact colleges. Those that showed interest included Division I Bellarmine, Division II Notre Dame de Namur and Division III Whittier.
“I was still developing as a player, and it’s not as easy as it is nowadays to get looks being on the West Coast,” Crowley said.
He decided to stay in British Columbia, playing club lacrosse as a freshman at Simon Fraser University, all the while thinking he could play at a higher level.
After McBride’s tip, he got his shot. Sowell watched film of Crowley, although the view was not all that conclusive. But Sowell received a positive review from his former teammate in professional lacrosse, Jeff Gombar, who had coached in Canada. So Sowell made the scholarship offer.
“He said he was rolling the dice,” Crowley said.
As it turned out, Sowell said, “it’s been Jordan being the 7 and Kevin being the 11, I suppose.”
Last season, while Stony Brook won a program-record 13 games, the America East tournament title and an N.C.A.A. tournament game for the first time in just its second appearance, Crowley set its single-season record with 51 goals, three more than McBride, Stony Brook’s career leader in goals and a third-team all-American.
McBride, a senior, lauded his chemistry with Crowley. They have set up goals for each other 44 times the last three years. Crowley assisted on 26 goals over all in 2010 and became the America East player of the year and its scholar-athlete award winner for lacrosse.
The career points record at Stony Brook is 201, and Crowley is 26 away from breaking it. Sowell sees him as even-keeled, team-oriented and multitalented.
“He’s very good in transition,” said Sowell, who had to scheme against Crowley as an assistant for Team USA last July when it beat Team Canada for the gold medal at the world championship tournament in England. “He’s great on ground balls. He makes plays coming down, whether scoring or looking for his main man Jordan often. He just does so many things well.
“I think he’s got the target on his back now, the No. 1 draft pick and coming off last year and all the hype surrounding him.”
Crowley has dreamed about playing professionally, and he will be doing it in Canada.
Hamilton’s season begins in May. The indoor National Lacrosse League will also likely be in his future.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete and a phenomenal player,” said Jody Gage, Hamilton’s general manager. “He’s got good size. He’s got a great stick. He’s just a dominating player.”
Robbie Campbell, a starting junior midfielder for the Seawolves who grew up about 15 minutes away from Crowley in Delta, British Columbia, played field lacrosse with him on an under-14 team in New Westminster.
“He’s come a long way; I’ll be honest,” Campbell said.
“One thing I really respect about Kevin is he’s a hard worker. He’s a very mental player. He thinks the game a lot more than other guys do.”
Now Crowley would like to win a game against Virginia. Stony Brook is 0 for 8 against the Cavaliers. As Sowell said, a victory would proclaim this message: “Hello, world.”
“Playing Virginia is something you always circle on the calendar because you get a chance to prove yourself against the top competition,” Crowley said. “It could be my last chance at beating Virginia. That’s motivating in itself.”
