Stony Brook emerged from the tunnel after 30 minutes of lacrosse action ready to throw haymakers. Although the Seawolves had a three-goal lead at halftime, they knew the second half needed to be better.
And their punches connected early and often. The Seawolves scored three goals in the opening four minutes of the second half en route to a 14-8 victory over Towson in the opening round of the NCAA woment’s lacrosse tournament Friday afternoon at LaValle Stadium.
“We knew we wanted to throw that first punch coming out of halftime,” Taryn Ohlmiller said. “And we did that.”
Ohlmiller was involved in nearly every devastating punch for Stony Brook. She finished with four goals and three assists in the victory, and her seven points were tied for the second-most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
“It’s just a tribute to my team,” Ohlmiller said. “We were all working together today.”
The eighth-seeded Seawolves (15-2) host the winner of Drexel/Rutgers in the second round at LaValle Stadium at noon on Sunday.
Stony Brook had a 6-0 run over two halves, holding Towson (9-9) scoreless for a span of 19 minutes, 26 seconds. The Seawolves later expanded their lead to 13-4 with 14:46 left in the second half.
“If you want to win playoff games, it starts with the defense and the goalie,” coach Joe Spallina said. “I feel really good about our offense’s ability to score, but it came down to being able to lock it down on the defensive side.”
Ally Kennedy added three goals and two assists and Kaeli Huff had three goals for the Seawolves.
Before the game, the NCAA announced its five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award, given to the most outstanding men’s and women’s lacrosse player. Kennedy, from North Babylon, was one of 25 nominees for the award, but she wasn’t named one of the final five finalists. She has 67 goals and eight assists in 17 games this season.
Spallina, who is never one to shy away from standing up for his team and players, was critical of the decision to announce the finalists the morning of the NCAA Tournament. He called the timing “tremendously irresponsible.”
“The biggest thing to me is just having zero regard of the emotion of the student-athletes,” Spallina said. “There’s no reason why this could not have gotten released Monday morning.”
“That award is better than that and Ally was upset,” Spallina added. “And listen, I treat my players like I treat my family. You mess with my kids, you’re messing with me. And it’s on.”
But the victory brings Stony Brook one game closer to its goal of playing in its first Final Four in program history. The Seawolves have made the last eight NCAA Tournaments, and made sure to finish the game with a strong second half.
“We needed to come out of the half swinging,” midfielder Rayna Sabella said. “We couldn’t have any letups on defense and we definitely wanted to keep the momentum on offense. We came out on offense and scored goals right away and we didn’t let them back in the game and by that time, it was like, ‘What can they do now?’ “
