BALTIMORE -- Senior Dave Brock tallied three points and sophomore John Carroll made 11 saves as third-seeded University at Albany downed second-seeded UMBC, 11-7, in the semifinals of the America East Men's Lacrosse Championship on Wednesday evening.
The win sends the Great Danes to the league title game, where they will face top-seeded Stony Brook University, the No. 6/7 team in the country, on Saturday at La Valle Stadium at 1 p.m. It will be Albany's eighth championship game appearance in nine years.
After UMBC (4-9) jumped out to a 1-0 lead on senior Maxx Davis' seventh goal of the season, Albany (5-10) ran off a string of four straight goals in a span of 1:41. Jake Reynolds scored twice in that span and Anthony Ostrander capped the spurt on a shot from the left side with 8:40 left in the period.
The Retrievers' Chris Jones scored consecutive goals to trim the lead to one, but freshman Dwayne Stewart, an America East all-rookie selection, accounted for two of the three second-quarter scores to give UA a 6-4 halftime advantage.
The Great Danes, who had lost five straight meetings with the Retrievers including a 12-7 decision on April 17, held UMBC scoreless in the third quarter and grew their lead to 8-4 after three periods. Matt Johnson and Brock, a second-team all-league choice, found the back of the cage in the period.
Sophomore Rob Grimm scored his second goal of the game to snap a 23:18 scoreless stretch for UMBC and cut the Albany lead to 8-5 2:15 into the fourth quarter. But sophomore Rocky Bonitatibus added a man-up score 3:07 later and Brock tallied his second goal of the night give Albany a 10-5 lead with 5:24 to go and seal the outcome.
Carroll, who made seven of his 11 stops in the second half, has allowed just 13 goals in his last two games. Grimm paced UMBC with three goals and an assist.
The Great Danes will look to avenge a 15-0 regular-season loss to Stony Brook. The two teams have met twice previously for the conference title. Stony Brook upset Albany, 8-6, for the 2002 crown, while Great Danes beat the Seawolves, 16-7, in 2005.
Purchase tickets for the America East Men's Lacrosse Championship game or be sure to watch it live at AmericaEast.tv.