SBU Sports: Women’s lacrosse secures No. 1 seed in CAA Tournament
The Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team (11-3, 6-0 CAA) remains the only team left undefeated in the CAA as it topped the Towson Tigers, 14-11, on April 22 to secure the No.1 seed heading into the program’s first-ever CAA Tournament.
The Seawolves’ offense was led by senior attacker Morgan Mitchell who tallied five goals. Senior attacker Kailyn Hart and junior midfielder Ellie Masera followed behind Mitchell registering a hat trick each. Graduate attacker Jolie Creo dished out a career-high eight assists, tied for second-most assists in a single game in program history with Taryn Ohlmiller, Kylie Ohlmiller, and Claire Petersen.
Towson got off to a hot start, scoring two back-to-back early goals courtesy of Halley Koras and Lindsey Marshall. However, Stony Brook did not stay silent for long as Masera converted a woman-up goal off a helper from Creo to get the squad on the board. The Tigers would add another goal to increase their lead to 3-1 with 10:08 remaining in the first quarter.
Less than one minute later, Masera and Mitchell would score back-to-back goals of their own to tie the contest, 3-3. The Seawolves found their offensive momentum as the squad would find the back of the cage five more times to grab hold of a 8-3 lead heading into the quarter break.
Throughout the first five minutes of the second quarter, Towson found the cage two times to cut its deficit to just three. Senior midfielder Kira Accettella would add the last goal for Stony Brook before heading into halftime with a 9-6 lead.
The Tigers added another two goals coming out of the half to find themselves within one. Junior midfielder Jaden Hampel and Hart added two goals in the remaining 7:10 left in the third quarter to give the squad a 11-9 lead heading into the final 15 minutes. The squad would go on to outscore Towson, 3-2, to secure their sixth consecutive conference win, the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament, and the 14-11 victory.
“Proud of our kids to secure the CAA, at least a share of the regular season championship and the one seed in the tournament. Towson is a great team that always brings it when we play each other. I thought we weathered the storms well and responded at opportune times. We took nearly 40 shots and most of those were high quality, so tip of the cap to their goalie who played excellent,” said head coach Joe Spallina.
The team returns home to LaValle Stadium for the regular season finale and the Battle of Long Island on Friday, April 28. Face-off is set for 6:31 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on LacrosseTV.
