ALBANY, N.Y. – On Saturday, March 31st at 4 p.m., the UAlbany men's lacrosse team takes on rival Stony Brook at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium, with the victor holding lone possession of first place in the America East.
For ticket information for UAlbany men's lacrosse games, fans may contact the UAlbany ticket office at 518-442-DANE or ualbanysports.com/tickets.
The game will be broadcast online on AmericaEast.tv.
UAlbany stands as the unanimous #1 in each the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Poll, being #1 for the fifth consecutive week. Stony Brook is not ranked in either poll.
UAlbany remains as the lone undefeated team in Division I, defeating Harvard 14-6 during the midweek for a 9-0 record, including 2-0 in the America East. Stony Brook is playing its third conference game in a row, last defeating Hartford 10-8 at home on March 24th. The Seawolves have won two straight to be 3-5 overall and 2-0 in the league.
UAlbany won both meetings last season, knocking Stony Brook out of the America East Tournament semifinal round with a 19-6 victory on May 4th, 2017. Winning the last nine games, UAlbany leads the all-time series 20-10.
UALBANY UNANIMOUS #1 IN COACHES POLL, MEDIA POLL: For the fifth straight week, UAlbany stands at #1 in the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Poll. After the win over #2 Maryland on March 10th, UAlbany earned every first place vote in each poll.
The Great Danes have been ranked in the top-16 of both polls each week since May 2, 2014. In the preseason, UAlbany was #3 in each the coaches poll and the media poll.
THREE GREAT DANES ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Connor Fields and TD Ierlan were each named to the 2018 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List, released on March 1st, with Tehoka Nanticoke being added on March 20th. UAlbany has had at least one Tewaaraton watch list player each of the last 11 years.
The Tewaaraton Trophy is given to the top player in college lacrosse. On the men's side, UAlbany's Miles and Lyle Thompson shared the 2014 Tewaaraton Trophy, with Lyle winning it outright in 2015.
FIELDS - GOING FOR NCAA SCORING RECORDS: Connor Fields has a chance to set numerous NCAA scoring records this season.
He is currently fifth all-time in Division I with 336 career points off 191 goals and 145 assists. He is even away from fourth by Joe Vasta, who had 343 points at Air Force from 1983-86. The record is 400 by UAlbany's own Lyle Thompson from 2012-15.
He is also tied for 6th all-time in DI with 191 goals in his career. He is one away from fifth, held by Gary Gait at Syracuse with 192 from 1987-90. The record is 206 by Duke's Zack Greer from 2005-08.
With 145 assists, he is 23rd in DI, one away from 22nd. The record is 225 by Lyle Thompson from 2012-15.
UALBANY - LONGEST CONFERENCE WINNING STREAK IN DI: With five consecutive undefeated regular seasons, UAlbany has the longest active winning streak in conference games with 30, dating back to 2013.
UAlbany is the only DI team to go undefeated in league play in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Two schools, UAlbany and Denver, had undefeated conference regular seasons the past four years.
UAlbany formerly had a streak of 28 victories against America East opponents until May 5, 2016 after a 11-10 overtime defeat to Hartford in the America East Tournament semifinal round.
Active Conference Winning Streak (games as of 3/22/18)
1 - UAlbany, 30 (America East 2013-18)
2 - Denver, 21 (Big East 2014-17)
IERLAN EARNS UALBANY DI GROUND BALL RECORD: As UAlbany's primary faceoff player, TD Ierlan has earned the program's DI ground ball record. The sophomore stands with 332 career ground balls, passing the DI record set by Jordan Levine, who had 321 ground balls from 2005-08, on March 28th.
Ierlan currently stands #1 in Division I with an 82% faceoff rate, almost 7% more than second place Trevor Baptiste of Denver, and first with 14.44 ground balls per game, over two more than any other player in DI.
100-POINT WATCH: UAlbany comes into 2018 with two 100-point scorers, and others are approaching that mark. Kyle McClancy joined the 100-point club this season to give UAlbany three 100-point scorers.
--Connor Fields, Sr. A: 336 (191 G, 145 A)
--Justin Reh, Sr. A: 136 (80 G, 56 A)
--Kyle McClancy, Sr. M: 101 (64 G, 37 A)
--Sean Eccles, Jr. M: 62 (45 G, 17 A)
--Jakob Patterson, So. M/A: 48 (44 G, 4 A)
--Tehoka Nanticoke, Fr. A: 45 (26 G, 19 A)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Home is where the heart is for UAlbany, drawing on the home state for most of its roster. Of its 50-man roster, 35 players hail from New York State.
From the USA, other states represented on UAlbany's roster include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The team also has four players from Canada.
The team's diversity is represented on its helmets. Each UAlbany helmet has three flags on the back, representing the United States, Canada and the Iroquois Six Nations.
52 WINS FOR THE UALBANY SENIOR CLASS: The current members of the UAlbany senior class have won 52 games in their time with a record of 52-10. That stands second in Division I, only behind Maryland's 55.
The winningest class in UAlbany history graduated in 2017, with 55 victories in its four years.
SCOUTING THE STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES: After starting the year 0-4, Stony Brook has won three of its last four games.
Sophomore attack Tom Haun is the leading goal-scorer and point-scorer for the Seawolves with 11 goals and seven assists, while classmate midfielder Chris Pickel Jr. also has 11 goals. Freshman attack Jack Walsh is the quarterback with 13 assists and five goals. Sophomore Tristan Dowd is 30.4% on faceoffs, with the team winning 32.5%.
Another sophomore, Michael Bollinger, is the primary goalkeeper with an 11.24 goals allowed average and a 45.2% save rate in seven games played. Junior Ryland Rees has 13 caused turnovers and four goals, while senior Kyle Abdellatif stands with 21 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
