Stony Brook women cruise past New Hampshire in AE semifinal

The Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team’s self-billed #LI3 helped the Seawolves take the express route to their sixth consecutive America East championship game with a 19-5 drubbing of New Hampshire in Friday’s semifinal.

Kylie Ohlmiller had four goals and five assists, Courtney Murphy had five goals and two assists and Taryn Ohlmiller had three goals and three assists as the Seawolves were in cruise control after a 16-1 first half at LaValle Stadium.

The trio, all former 100-point scorers, entered the season primed to take the nation by storm. As such, Stony Brook created the hashtag #LI3, a play on the Long Island Expressway’s abbreviation (LIE). When those three are clicking, Stony Brook is an offensive juggernaut.

The Seawolves play Albany on Sunday at noon in the America East championship.

“They decided to faceguard both Kylie and Murph, so our biggest thing is whenever they get faceguarded, we want to show people that we can still get them the ball,” said Taryn Ohlmiller, who helped orchestrate an efficient first-half offense.

Stony Brook (18-0) opened on a 13-0 run and had a 10-goal lead just over 14 minutes into the game. Anna Tesoriero (eight saves) made key stops, while Keri McCarthy helped the Seawolves win 10 first-half draws.

New Hampshire (6-11) didn’t score until Krissy Schafer’s goal with 5:13 left before halftime.

Just before the half, Murphy batted down a pass, controlled the ground ball and sprinted 70 yards for the coast-to-coast score and a 16-1 lead. The play was particularly important for Murphy, who had ACL surgery roughly 14 months ago.

“It took about 10 minutes to catch my breath after that,” Murphy joked. “After I was like 30 yards in, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m getting this goal.’ ”

Tiffany Zullo had two goals and an assist, all in the first half, and coach Joe Spallina was impressed with her performance. He thinks she can be a weapon this postseason.

“You see this a lot of times in sports, when teams are about to go on that championship run, that kid emerges,” he said. “I think she’s somebody who’s a matchup nightmare when she’s going with confidence.”

With her role increasing, Zullo said she’s ready to take on more.

“I want to help our team make it all the way to the end,” she said. “I feel like I’ll raise my level as we go. My confidence is rising every day.”