Stony Brook Men's Lax Can Clinch Title Saturday

Before last season, the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team had never won the America East Conference regular-season championship. With a victory Saturday on Senior Night against Albany (7 p.m.), the Seawolves will have gone back-to-back.

With victories in its last three games, including a 13-6 triumph over Binghamton in a driving rain Saturday night, Stony Brook has risen to the top of the America East standings. It sits one game ahead of Hartford and Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) with two games to play, and by virtue of the head-to-head advantage on the aforementioned duo, a victory on Saturday seals the regular-season title.

The Seawolves have shored things up defensively. Since surrendering 17 goals in a loss to Cornell on March 22, Stony Brook’s given up an average of 6.25 goals over their last four games. Part of that success is due to the play of Ward Melville grad Kyle Moeller. The junior, who transferred in after earning All-MAAC honors at Manhattan, ranks second on the team in ground balls (30) and has nearly three times more caused turnovers (20) than the next highest-ranked player on the roster (Jared LaVerne and Kevin Crowley, 7).

Albany comes into the contest at 0-3 in conference and 4-8 overall. The Great Danes won three of their first four games this year, including a 9-8 upset of fifth-ranked UMass on March 8. They’ve since dropped seven of eight contests, most recently falling 13-9 to UMBC.

The real prize is the America East conference tournament title, as a result of which it would gain an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Stony Brook knocked off Denver before being ousted by top-ranked Virginia in the tournament quarterfinals. A win Saturday would give Stony Brook home-field advantage throughout this year’s conference tournament.

Stony Brook has won the last three showdowns with Albany, including an 11-7 victory last spring.

A pair of Seawolves – Crowley and Adam Rand – are finalists for the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy, given every year to the country's best player. Crowley finished second in the voting last season.