Slow Start, Tough Finish Doom Delaware as Hens Fall to #6 Stony Brook 14-9 in Men's Lacrosse
March 12, 2011
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File Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell
STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad was done in by a slow start and a tough finish Saturday afternoon as the Blue Hens fell behind early and could never catch up in dropping a 14-9 decision to No. 6 ranked Stony Brook at LaVelle Stadium.
Stony Brook outscored the Blue Hens 5-1 in the first quarter and then pulled away from a slim two-goal lead by scoring the final three goals of the game to post the victory.
Delaware (4-3) pulled to within 11-9 with 10:22 left to play on two straight goals by Eric Smith, but was held scoreless the rest of the way and dropped its second straight decision.
Stony Brook (2-1) was once again led by the high-scoring duo of Kevin Crowley and Jordan McBride. Crowley, a national Player of the Year candidate, scored three goals and dished out three assists while McBride scored three times and Tom Compitello and Russ Bonanno each scored twice and dished out an assist.
The Blue Hens received a balanced scoring effort as eight different players reached the back of the net. Smith, Delaware’s leading scorer on the season with 12 goals, scored twice to lead UD while Grant Kaleikau (at right) scored a goal and dished out four assists and Nick Elsmo contributed a goal and an assist.
Stony Brook, which defeated the Hens for the fifth straight time, outshot the Blue Hens 40-33 and held a 35-20 advantage in groundballs and a 13-11 edge on faceoffs. Delaware goalkeeper Noah Fossner made 12 saves while SBU netminder Rob Camposa stopped 11 shots.
Delaware opened the scoring when Kaleikau fed Sean Finegan for a goal just 64 seconds into the game, but the Seawolves exploded with five straight goals from five different players to take the four-goal lead.
The Hens stopped the streak thanks to a man-up goal from Elsmo just 1:15 into the second half but the teams traded goals the rest of the stanza before Stony Brook took an 8-4 lead into halftime.
Delaware made two runs in the second half to get back in the game but could never get closer than two. Kaleikau and John Mills scored the first two goals of the second half for the Hens to narrow the gap to 8-6, but Stony Brook answered with three straight of its own, the final one from Crowley with 5:58 left in the stanza, to push the lead to 11-6.
A three-goal run by Delaware to open the final stanza, including a goal from Andrew Rohacik and two from Smith off Kaleikau feeds two minutes apart, closed the gap to 11-9 with 10:22 left.
However, the rest of the day would belong to Stony Brook as McBride scored with 8:27 left and tallied again at the 5:16 mark to put the game away.
Delaware will look to get back on the winning track next Saturday, March 19, when the Hens open defense of their 2010 Colonial Athletic Association title by taking on pre-season league favorite Hofstra. The game will begin at 1 p.m. at Delaware Stadium.
