America East has placed two teams in the two national men's lacrosse polls announced Monday (March 20). Binghamton received the program's first national ranking of No. 16 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association/STX Top 20 poll and No. 18 in the Inside Lacrosse poll. Three-time America East defending champion Albany was ranked No. 17 by USILA and No. 15 by Inside Lacrosse. In addition, America East members UMBC and Stony Brook also received votes in the USILA and Inside Lacrosse polls, respectively.
Binghamton is 4-1 after winning four-straight games, including a 7-6 overtime decision at then-No. 8 Towson on March 4 and a 7-5 win over then-No. 17 Hobart on March 14.
"It is a great honor for our program to be nationally ranked," said 2004 America East Coach of the Year Ed Stephenson, now in his fifth year with the Bearcats. "We have earned the ranking with two wins over Top 20 programs. But we don't get caught up in the rankings. We look to continue to improve each game."
Stephenson's team is led by 2004 All-American goalkeeper Kevin McKeown, who has an 8.30 goals against average and 47 saves in five games. McKeown led the Bearcats to the nation's top defensive ranking in 2004 and the top defense in America East in 2005.
Albany is 3-2, including a 9-8 win over then-No. 7 Massachusetts on March 14 and an 8-7 win over Drexel Saturday. Both of the Great Danes' losses came to nationally ranked teams, including a 10-8 loss at preseason No. 1 Johns Hopkins in the season-opener on February 25.
The Great Danes are led by sixth-year head coach Scott Marr, who has led the Great Danes to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, goalkeeper Brett Queener, who is in his first season after transferring from Herkimer County Community College, and Merrick Thomson, a preseason All-American. Queener has a 10.56 goals against average and 65 saves in five games. Thomson has 10 goals and four assists in five games, after leading the nation in goals (54) and finishing second in points (74) last season.
In addition, Vermont (4-2) is off to its best start since 1994 while Hartford, under rookie head coach Peter Lawrence, has already equalled last season's win total.
Stony Brook will host the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse North Quarterfinals at the 8,136-seat Kenneth P. LaVallee Stadium on Saturday, May 20. Chairbacks seats at the state-of-the-art, on-campus stadium, which opened in 2002, are already sold out. Other ticket options are available by calling 631-632-WOLF or by visiting the Stony Brook University athletics website at GoSeawolves.org.