SBU Sports: Men’s lacrosse fights back, falls in overtime to Sacred Heart 7-6
Stony Brook men’s lacrosse fell in overtime, 7-6, to Sacred Heart on Feb. 22 at LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves erased a two-goal deficit and held the Pioneers scoreless for nearly the entire second half, but Sacred Heart struck late to force an extra period and found the sudden-death winner in overtime to upend Stony Brook.
Ray O’Brien opened the scoring in the opening minute of the contest off an assist from Caleb Yeung.
Michael Kloepfer added to the Seawolves’ lead with a goal in the fifth minute of play, but Sacred Heart responded with two tallies of its own to even the contest less than seven minutes in.
Collin Williamson found a rebound and scored to put Stony Brook back in front, but the Pioneers responded just 33 seconds later.
After a combined six goals in the opening nine minutes of play, there were just two more scores over the ensuing 21 minutes, both by Sacred Heart.
Trailing 5-3 out of the locker room, Stony Brook locked things down defensively. Offensively, goals from Kian McCoy and Carson Boyle in the third period evened the contest at 5-5.
Tanner Williams gave the Seawolves their third lead of the afternoon with a fourth-quarter goal.
The Pioneers could not get one past Jamison MacLachlan for nearly the entire second half, but Jake Ward finally managed to beat Stony Brook’s goalie with 29 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Sacred Heart won the opening face-off of the extra period but turned the ball over before getting a shot off. After a Stony Brook timeout, the Seawolves gave it away on a shot-clock violation.
After back-to-back empty possessions to start overtime, the Pioneers gained control of possession and Will Moulton ended it with the sudden-death winner with 1:43 to play in overtime.
“Frustrated with the game; I thought offensively we didn’t play well and didn’t shoot the ball well. I think that is something that as a young team playing five freshmen on offense, we know there are going to be ups and downs and peaks and valleys. We have to find a way to continue to grow and I think the struggle for us is that in game, being able to fix things that we as coaches are seeing, and everything is new,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said postgame.
“That’s the first time we’ve been in overtime, it’s the first time we’ve been up a goal in the final minute. All of these situations are so new and we’re trying to coach every aspect of it and it’s a challenge. I think the guys are playing hard and giving us the effort, so now we need to mentally eliminate the mistakes,” he said.
Up next, the team stays home, hosting Iona on February 25. The Seawolves and Gaels are set for a 4 pm start at LaValle Stadium, with the contest streaming live on FloCollege. It marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
