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Sports

Stony Brook Lacrosse Loses Heartbreaker to Hartford in America East Championship

Hartford scored go-ahead goal with one second remaining in its 11-10 victory over Seawolves.

Despite valiant efforts from its two biggest stars, the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team fell, 11-10, to Hartford Saturday afternoon at LaValle Stadium. The loss brings to an end the careers of seniors Kevin Crowley, Jordan McBride, and Stony Brook’s most successful recruiting class at the Division I level.

Ryan Compitello, the brother of Stony Brook senior Tom, scored the game winner for the Hawks with just one second remaining as he drove to the goal on a delayed penalty. He finished with three goals and two assists.

“They took the shot and it looked like we were going to overtime and it ricochets’ to their guy and he picks it up and scores with a second left,” Stony Brook coach Rick Sowell said. “A heartbreaker to say the least… I would say cruel is an understatement.”

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The Seawolves led for the majority of the first half into the third quarter and there was never more than a two goal difference between the teams all day. Stony Brook struck quickly out of halftime as McBride scored two of his four goals in the first five minutes to give the Seawolves a 6-5 lead. But the Hawks railed back with three consecutive goals to take an 8-6 lead.

It was at that point that Crowley, the team’s all-time leading scorer, attempted to take over. For the first time in a long time, though, he was relatively contained. He did manage to finish the game with three goals.

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On this day it was McBride who the Seawolves looked to. He came up big early but did not score over the game’s final 25 minutes.

McBride, more solemn than usual, sat with Tom Compitello and Sowell around a conference table answering questions after the game, and there was a look of shock and disappointment on all of their faces.

“You know our team was going 110 [percent], I know that when I think about this game in the future I’m going to know I gave 110 [percent] and I’m going to learn from it,” McBride said. “I personally know we’re better than that team but they came out today and beat us, and it’s going to happen, but…” he said as his voice trailed off.

It was that type of day for the Seawolves, combining a crushing loss with the end of an era – this group was the first to win an NCAA tournament game, competed in three straight America East championship games, and won two regular season titles.

“I could be here for a while talking about the senior class,” Sowell said. “They’ve meant  an awful lot to the program and me. It’s been a great four years, obviously this takes a little of the luster off. We’ve reached new heights these last couple of years and they’ve had a direct impact.

“I wasn’t quite prepared for this to be the end so I’m in a little bit of shock, to be honest,” he said.

Compitello, a fifth year senior who has seen it all as a Seawolf, had to watch his little brother  not only celebrate on his home field but bury the dagger that ended his career. There was no time for Compitello to feel  any brotherly love.

“Let’s put it this way, I wanted to win today, his loss would have meant nothing,” Compitello said. “I would have felt better if we would have won.”

The Hawks controlled the play thanks to face-off man Tim Fallon, who won 18-of-24 draws against Stony Brook’s Adam Rand, statistically one of the best face-off men in NCAA history.

Fallon was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

 “We were playing some pretty good defense but we had some bad possessions, that what bothered us,” Sowell said. “Too many errors on the offensive end – quick possessions and we’d give it right back to them, we’d win a faceoff and manage to turn it over – we had our opportunities to control it but it was a little bit of a letdown.”

It remains to be seen how Stony Brook will bounce back from such a blow, but Sowell tried to put it all in perspective.

“Our ultimate goal was to win this game and get back to the NCAA’s, so unfortunately we came up a little short there,” he said. “But a lot of good things happened this year. It will take a while to look back and say the year is not quite as bad as it feel right now. The last 365 days, you feel like maybe all for naught, but there are a lot of good things that have happened over the last year.”

That will be tough for McBride, Crowley, Compitello and the senior class to hang their hats on.

“Knowing that it’s coming to an end is something that’s hard to swallow,” Compitello said. “It’s not something we looked forward to, and like coach said, all things come to an end but we just weren’t ready for it today.”

Hartford will learn its fate Sunday when the NCAA releases its tournament seedings during a selection show.

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