In Stony Brook's third appearance in the NCAA tournament, the Seawolves (7-9) will play on the road at No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins (11-3) on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Blue Jays are playing in the tournament for the 41st consecutive season. For Seawolves fans out, here's a look at how the two teams stack up.
Position Johns Hopkins Blue Jays Stony Brook Seawolves Attack Junior Zack Palmer leads the offense with 23 goals and 23 assists this season. Senior Chris Boland has 13 goals and 9 assists this season. RS freshman Mike Rooney is the team's leading scorer with 33 goals and has 12 assists, and has been named the America East Rookie of the Year. Junior Jeff Tundo has 20 goals and 15 assists this season. Midfield Sophomore Rob Guida has been a spark for the team, scoring the OT gamewinner in a 10-9 win over then-top-ranked Loyola. He has 16 goals and 7 assists this season.Senior Robbie Campbell has 23 goals and 15 assists. Senior Russ Bonnano has 19 goals and 13 assists. The pair has been known to pack a punch as a team alongside Tundo. Goal Junior Pierce Barrett has a 7.08 goals against average and a .542 save percentage. Junior Sean Brady made 11 saves in SBU's America East championship win, and has 139 on the season. His goals against average is 9.65 and has a .510 save percentage.
Defense Freshman Michael Pellegrino, with 30 ground balls and 9 caused turnovers, and sophomore Jack Reilly, with 21 ground balls and 6 caused turnovers, leads a defense that has only given up 10 or more goals twice this season. Senior Kyle Moeller, voted the America East fan's choice "Favorite Player of the Year," has 36 ground balls and 27 forced turnovers.
Head Coach Dave Pietramala owns a 160-61 all-time record. Currently in his 11th season with JHU, he has guided the team to nine NCAA tournament appearances, six appearances in the final four, and two national championships.
It's Jim Nagle's first season with SBU. His all-time record is 158-112. His team enters the NCAA tournament with a 7-9 overall record but has been credited with keeping the team competitive in what has been a big transition year.
Coach's Notes Pietramala on the Seawolves' Tundo-Campbell-Bonnano offense combination, as told to the Baltimore Sun: "I don’t look at them as a middle-of-the-road group. I look at them as a group that has now kind of figured out who goes where and who they are and what they are. I think they’re more dangerous now than they’ve ever been before."
The team is coming off its America East championship win, a game Nagle called the team's best game of the season. "We're just trying to get better this week and continue to improve on our own system. ... [JHU] is a great program. For us to be able to compete with them, we need to be able to do what we do well."
Where to watch/listen to the game: ESPNU/ESPN3.com and WUSB 90.1 FM
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