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Top-Seeded Virginia Continues NCAA Quest on Sunday at Stony Brook
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (15-1) enter the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship as the nation’s top-ranked team in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media and USILA coaches polls. UVa travels to face the eighth-seeded Stony Brook Seawolves (13-3) on Sunday afternoon, inside LaValle Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
The game will also be broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM with John Freeman calling the action and Doug Tarring doing the color broadcast. The contest will be televised live in HD on ESPNU with Eamon McAnaney doing the play-by-play, while Quint Kessenich and Matt Ward serve as color analysts, with Bob Holtzman patrolling the sidelines.
This is Virginia’s 33rd tournament appearance overall, second behind Johns Hopkins (39). Virginia won the national championship four years ago and has received a bid in 17 of the last 18 seasons. UVa is also making its 29th overall appearance in the quarterfinal round and 15th appearance in head coach Dom Starsia’s 18th season at the helm.
Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals on May 15 when the Cavaliers received hat tricks from Shamel Bratton, Chris Bocklet and Brian Carroll, while Steele Stanwick dished out five assists in UVa’s 18-4 victory over Mount St. Mary’s in the first round.
The Seawolves, ranked No. 7 in the media and No. 8 in the coaches poll, were awarded the automatic bid after winning the America East championship with an 11-7 triumph over Albany in the league’s championship game for Stony Brook’s second all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 2002. Stony Brook, the eighth seed in the NCAA Championship, advanced to the program’s first quarterfinals with a 9-7 victory over Denver on May 15.
Sunday’s contest with Stony Brook is the eighth all-time meeting and second of the season. Virginia holds a 7-0 advantage in the all-time series, including a 13-8 triumph behind three goals apiece from Bocklet and Stanwick on Feb. 27 in Charlottesville, a game that was played on the University Hall Turf Field because of heavy snow in the Central Virginia region during February.
The winner of this game faces the winner of Saturday’s Duke at North Carolina game in the semifinals at M&T Stadium in Baltimore on Sunday (May 29). The semifinals will be televised on ESPN2 in HD.
Bocklet leads Virginia with 46 goals, while Stanwick holds the team lead with 28 assists and is second on the team with 25 goals. Bocklet leads the squad with 58 points. Rhamel Bratton and Carroll are third on the team with 22 goals. Shamel Bratton is next with 20 scores and 17 assists, while freshman Matt White rounds out the top scorers with 19 goals. White’s had scored at least one point in every game of his young career before being shut out against Mount. St. Mary’s. Chris LaPierre has 49 ground balls, followed closely by Ken Clausen and his 46 ground balls. Ghitelman is saving 56.0 percent of the shots against him, while posting a 7.79 goals-against average to go with a team-best 55 ground balls.
Head coach Rick Sowell is in his fourth season at the helm of Stony Brook and led the Seawolves to a program-best 13 wins this season. The Seawolves won the America East title for the second time in program history and first since 2002. The Seawolves lost to Cornell in Stony Brook’s previous NCAA appearance in 2002.
Tewaaraton finalist Kevin Crowley leads the potent Stony Brook offense with 49 goals and 25 assists for a team-best 74 points. Jordan McBride has 48 goals and seven assists, while Tom Compitello has dished out a team-high 35 assists to go with 36 goals. Steven Waldeck has picked up a team-best 104 ground balls, while Charlie Paar is saving 56.5 percent of shots in between the pipes to go with a 9.81 goals against average.