by Michelle Rabinovich
In their season finale, the Hofstra Pride lost to the Stony Brook Seawolves 18-6 on Friday, April 28, in Stony Brook’s LaValle Stadium. This win brought the Seawolves’ overall record to 12-3 and 7-0 in conference play, handing them the regular season title. Meanwhile, Hofstra’s record dropped to 4-12 overall and 1-6 in league play.
“Our kids came out firing, I thought our draw controls made the difference,” Stony Brook head women’s lacrosse coach Joe Spallina said. “I thought offensively we made some great strides.”
Stony brook opened strong in the first half, outsourcing the Pride 12-4 in the first 30 minutes.
“We talked about being really assertive in that first half,” Spallina said.
Part of that assertive nature came from Stony Brook’s scoring-prone Ellie Masera who lead the charge with five goals and four assists.
“I think [the ball] just ended up in my stick, but it could have been anyone,” Masera said. “I think something was clicking with me today, and I think our whole team was on point today and that’s why we’re so successful.”
Part of the team’s offense was the fact that they were able to feed off of Hofstra’s 17 turnovers across all four frames.
“I think we were reading their offense really well,” Masera explained. “[So] we were able to force a couple of turnovers there.”
Originally picked to finish fourth in preseason polls, the Stony Brook Seawolves are ranked tenth nationally going into Colonial Athletic Association championships.
“Honestly I’m very proud of this team,” Masera said. “I think we’ve come a long way and we’re really excited to show everyone what we’re made of.”
Coach Spallina also credited the team’s persistence in the days leading up to the season finale, citing that their team practices showed that the team was strong and enduring, sentiments echoed by Kailyn Hart who had four goals on the day herself.
“We’ve been having very aggressive and competitive practices and I think we just need to keep that up,” Hart explained. “This past week we’ve had great energy in practices and even in warm-ups before this game and that refelcts on the field, which is what we need to keep up.”
With the team’s eyes on the Colonial Athletic Association trophy, the message is clear:
“It’s next man up, if someone gets hurt or if someone goes down in a game, people need to be ready,” Hart said.
“I believe in that group,” Spallina said.” That group right there, I said on day one that we could win a national title and I think we still can.”
