Stony Brook's lacrosse pieces came together in unusual ways

Consider the kind of recruiting skill that has brought Stony Brook to Saturday's America East Conference lacrosse final against Albany and to the brink of an NCAA Tournament bid:

"One of my best friend's wife's sister married Adam Rand's dad, a second marriage," Stony Brook coach Rick Sowell said.

Bingo! Sowell had the inside track on a kid from Niantic, Conn., who wanted to play in Division I. And Rand "ends up," Sowell said, "one of the best faceoff guys in the country."

Here's another profile in keen player evaluation:

Midfielder Kevin Crowley of New Westminster, British Columbia - just outside Vancouver - found his way into Sowell's consciousness because Jordan McBride, a childhood acquaintance of Crowley's, recently had committed to Stony Brook. "And Jordan name-dropped me," said Crowley, the conference player of the year.

Between them, the Canadian juniors have totaled 89 goals this season - 46 for McBride and 43 for Crowley.

Of course, there is a real talent both in discovering the raw material and shaping it into an 11-3 team that is ranked sixth in the nation. But also at play, Sowell readily admitted, is that "a program like ours can take chances."

There are good high school players out there who "we aren't sure can play Division I," Sowell said, "but I say, 'Come here and give it a shot.' "

Spreading the maximum of 12.6 full scholarships around his 30-man roster, coaching to the strengths of some and away from the weaknesses of others, Sowell - in his fourth season at Stony Brook - essentially has ended the traditional conference dominance of Albany and Maryland-Baltimore County.

He inherited a handful of central characters from previous coach Lars Tiffany - current all-conference players Tom Compitello of Hauppauge and Steven Waldeck of Levittown most prominently among them. And the discovery of McBride at one of those cattle-call recruiting camps in July 2007 "set off a chain reaction," Sowell said.

At the time, Sowell still was St. John's head coach and McBride "was a little porky kid," Sowell said, "but we noticed he had great hands and could shoot the ball. There must've been 100 coaches there and we were the only ones recruiting him."

A month later, Sowell had the Stony Brook job. "First guy I called was Jordan," he said - and along came Crowley, then another B.C. friend of theirs, attackman Kyle Belton. And midfielder Robbie Campbell, also from B.C., and Ontario defenseman Greg Miceli.

Melded with the East Coast Americans, Sowell had what Crowley calls a "hybrid style" - Canadians more accustomed to box lacrosse's close quarters, necessitating picks and rolls and sniper fire, and Americans running the field, passing, checking.

"We look for athleticism, like everybody else," Sowell said, "and that can come in all shapes and sizes. Speed? OK; we'll take that."

From Nassau Community College (and, before that, Huntington High, where both his parents had been lacrosse coaches), came goalkeeper Charlie Paar. Waldeck, originally recruited by Sowell for St. John's, actually committed to Stony Brook before Sowell changed jobs. "I recruited him," Waldeck kidded.

Midfielder Timmy Trenkle came from Commack High; Smithtown midfielder Paul Randazzo transferred in from Farmingdale's two-year program; attackman Graham Adams, who had two sets of aunts and uncles living in Suffolk but didn't know where Stony Brook was, came from Michigan for the chance to play in Division I.

On the whole, it has been a recruiting triumph. More than just a few good men.

Lose & still in? The winner of Saturday's game will earn an automatic berth in the 16-team NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. Based on its record and strength-of-schedule rating, even with a loss Saturday, Stony Brook theoretically could advance to the NCAAs via an NCAA at-large bid. Stony Brook is riding a seven-game winning streak - its last loss was March 23 to then-No. 7 Cornell - and, Sowell said, is "playing our best lacrosse at the right time."