Score: #1 Stony Brook 21, #2 UAlbany 7
Location: LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y.
Records: UAlbany (11-7, 6-1 AE); Stony Brook (15-4, 7-0 AE)
Short Story: UAlbany falls in the America East championship game to Stony Brook, having met the Seawolves in the final for the eighth-straight season.
Coach Rowan: “I'm super proud of how this team fought all season through ups and downs. We faced adversity and still believed. We're really proud of them. It was a tough matchup today but we're excited that everyone is returning next year. And Jordyn winning the Elite 18 award is unbelievable. She works so hard in the classroom and on the field, and what a tremendous honor for her.”
Key Stats
Recap
For the ninth-straight season, the University at Albany women's lacrosse team advanced to the America East championship game. And for the eighth-straight season, the Great Danes met Stony Brook in the title game. Saturdady, UAlbany fell to the Seawolves 21-7, seeing Stony Brook win their seventh-straight America East title.
Rookie of the Year Hailey Carroll got UAlbany on the board quickly, converting a free position attempt with 28:51 to go in the first half. Stony Brook tied the game at one with 28:07 left, launching a three-goal run.
Trailing 3-1, Kyla Zapolski scored with 23:20 to go in the first to cut Stony Brook's lead to one. The Seawolves responded within a minute, ultimately scoring two straight to lead 5-2 with 21:02 remaining.
Ally Alliegro and Offensive Player of the Year Madison Conway scored back-to-back goals to bring UAlbany within 5-4 with 17:47 remaining. Stony Brook scored each of the next four however, taking a 9-4 lead with 11:31 remaining.
Zapolski temporarily broke Stony Brook's scoring streak with a goal with 10:37 remaining, but the Seawolves immediately started a new streak 24 seconds of game time later, their first of five-straight to close the first half.
Stony Brook led 14-5 at halftime. During the regular season, the Great Danes were the only America East team to score more than five goals against the Seawolves in a single game, and had matched that total in the first half. Stony Brook had outshot UAlbany 20-9 and out drawn the Great Danes 15-5 over the first 30 minutes.
The Seawolves extended their lead to 10 within the first 45 seconds of the second half. Julia Imbo closed UAlbany's deficit to single digits with 20:53 remaining, but Stony Brook scored each of the next four to take a 19-6 lead. Conway notched her second goal of the game with 12:08 remaining, before the Seawolves scored the last two to close the game and clinch a 21-7 victory.
Conway and Zapolski each finished with two goals, while Kendra Harbinger recorded four assists. Conway was named to the All-Tournament team, alongside Sam Tortora and Imani Hedgeman, and Jordyn Marr won the Elite 18 award, granted to the student-athlete holding the highest GPA in the title game.
