STONY BROOK, N.Y. - For the third-straight year, the Stony Brook Seawolves are the America East Women's Lacrosse champions, defeating Albany, 11-8, on Sunday afternoon at LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they have won their opening round game in each of the past two seasons.
Stony Brook (18-1) was led by freshman and America East Rookie of the Year, Kylie Ohlmiller, who set a championship record with nine assists over two games to be named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Ohlmiller tied the tournament single-game record with five assists in the title game and added a goal to total six points.
Amber Kupres carried the bulk of the goal scoring for Stony Brook, scoring five goals, including four during the Seawolves' decisive first-half run. She joined Ohlmiller on the All-Tournament team along with Maegan Meritz and Taylor Ranftle. Courtney Murphy added three and Ranftle had two goals and three assists.
Dakotah Savitcheff and Sarah Martin had two goals apiece for Albany (14-4) while America East Offensive Player of the Year, Maureen Keggins, had a goal and two assists. Savitcheff and Martin earned spots on the All-Tournament team along with Rachel Bowles.
Stony Brook earned their third-straight NCAA bid by controlling possession and playing dominant defense against one of the top-scoring offenses in the country. Although draw control were almost even (Stony Brook 11, Albany 10), the Seawolves forced the Great Danes into 11 turnovers while also leading in ground balls, 8-5.
After Sarah Martin opened the scoring by giving Albany a, 1-0, lead at the 22:41 mark of the first half, Stony Brook rattled off five-straight goals and seven of the last eight before halftime to grab a 7-2 lead heading into the locker room. Kupres had four of those goals and six of the seven in the first half were assisted.
During the five-goal run, the first three strikes came off Albany turnovers while the next two were from draw controls. On Kupres second goal, the senior leaped to make an athletic catch and shot the ball in one motion while falling to the ground to give Stony Brook its first lead at 2-1 with 17:32 left in the first half.
Bowles scored for Albany to end Stony Brook's run of five-straight goals, but Stony Brook scored the last two before halftime to maintain momentum.
Kupres added to the Stony Brook lead just 90 seconds into the second half on a feed from Ohlmiller to make it, 8-2. The Seawolves then controlled possession for most of the first 11 minutes of the first half.
Albany began to find a groove with back-to-back goals from Savitcheff to close the deficit to 9-4 with 17:17 remaining. The Great Danes then had possession with a chance to come within four, but a turnover ended the threat.
After a Ranftle goal, Albany got within five one more time on a strike from Keggins with 5:59 left, but Dorrien Van Dyke responded for Stony Brook just eight seconds later to make it 11-5. The Great Danes scored the final three goals of the game, but time ran out of Albany's comeback bid as Stony Brook defeated the Danes for the third-straight season in the title game.
Stony Brook is the third team in America East history to win three-straight titles. Delaware won three-straight from 1997-99 while Boston U. won six-straight from 2005-2010. The Seawolves will discover their fate in the NCAA Tournament during the selection show on Sunday night at 9 PM on NCAA.com.
All-Tournament Team
Kylie Ohlmiller, Stony Brook - Most Outstanding Player
Amber Kupres, Stony Brook
Maegan, Meritz, Stony Brook
Taylor Ranftle, Stony Brook
Rachel Bowles, Albany
Dakotah Savitcheff, Albany
Sarah Martin, Albany
Carolyn Jamison, UMBC
Lexi Bristow, UMBC
Danielle Seifert, Vermont
Meg Hopkins, Vermont