INDIANAPOLIS – For the second time
in three seasons, Stony Brook will play in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship
when it faces second-seeded Johns Hopkins in Baltimore on Sunday, May 13 at 3
p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU. The Seawolves learned
their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday evening during the NCAA selection show on
ESPNU.
Stony
Brook collected the America East’s automatic bid with its 14-8 win over Albany
in the conference championship game on Saturday afternoon. Sean Brady made 11
saves for the Seawolves against the Danes and 19 total in the tournament to
earn Most Outstanding Player honors. First-team all-conference midfielder Jeff
Tundo paced the Stony Brook offense with four goals and an assist.
The
Seawolves, led by America East Coach of the Year Jim Nagle, boast five
first-team all-conference performers and the league’s Rookie of the Year, Mike
Rooney. The freshman earned five Rookie of the Week awards during the regular
season and is the top freshman goal scorer in the nation. Brady, meanwhile,
anchors a defense that ranked first in the league in goals against average
giving up only 9.33 per contest.
Johns
Hopkins picked up the tournament’s No. 2 overall seed after an 11-3 regular season
including a win against the overall No. 1 seed, Loyola. Hopkins makes its 41st consecutive
trip to the NCAA Tournament and has defeated two America East squads this
season (UMBC, Albany).
Stony
Brook advanced to the NCAA quarterfinal round in 2010 with a first-round win
over Denver. Albany and UMBC are the only other America East schools to reach
that stage and both accomplished the feat in 2007.
All
eight first round matchups face-off May 12 or May 13 and all will be televised
on the ESPN family of networks. The quarterfinals will be held the following
weekend while the Final Four will start on May 26 at Gillette Stadium in
Foxboro, Mass.