Stony Brook peaking as tourney nears

There will be an encore.

Though Saturday night's game against Albany was billed as the final home contest of the season for the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team and festooned with all the trappings of Senior Day, the Seawolves' 23-11 victory ensured that there will be more action to come at LaValle Stadium. The win clinched at least a share of the America East regular-season title and gave the No. 14 Seawolves home-field advantage throughout the conference tournament next month.

And though it was, appropriately, the seniors who led Stony Brook to the win, it wasn't the record-setting seniors you'd think. All-time SBU leading scorer Kevin Crowley had just a goal and an assist, and although Jordan McBride finished with five goals to increase his career total to 161, he had only two by the time the Seawolves took control in the second quarter en route to a 12-6 halftime lead.

Instead, the local seniors took their bow on a foggy evening in Stony Brook. Tom Compitello (Hauppauge) had two goals and three assists in the first half and Timmy Trenkle (Commack) scored three goals for the Seawolves (8-3, 4-0).

Crowley and McBride may be the NCAA's active leaders in points and goals scored, respectively, but this win proved that the most successful recruiting class Stony Brook has had in any sport in its Division I era consists of more than two players.

"We all bring something different to the game but we all work perfectly together," Trenkle said of his classmates. "Our offense is so explosive . . . Like coach [Rick Sowell] always says, this recruiting class is so good, just pick your poison. We're so dominant. You try to stop one of us, another of us is going to go."

Compitello finished with two goals and four assists. Although he is a redshirt senior who technically did not come in with the recruiting class currently making its farewell tour, he's found a home with them.

"Obviously, Kevin and Jordan draw a lot of attention, which makes all of our lives a lot easier," he said. "You have a guy who's so worried about 'Where's McBride?' you can sneak around the goal and there's no one else there. It makes it real easy. Playing with them makes things run a lot smoother."

Rob Camposa made 10 saves and Russ Bonanno had two goals and an assist for the Seawolves, who will finish their regular season next weekend at Vermont before hosting a first-round game in the America East Tournament on May 4. They'll face either Hartford or Binghamton. The championship game, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line, will be played May 7. If Stony Brook is in that game, it will host it.

Miles Thompson scored five goals with two assists for Albany (4-9, 0-4). It was Stony Brook's fifth straight win over Albany, the last three coming by a combined 49-18 within the last calendar year.