Behind Chris Hughes four goals and Kyle Rowe’s 16 for 24 faceoff performance, the Stony Brook Seawolves defeated Rutgers 12-9 at a cold LaValle Stadium on Saturday Night. Below are my observations that go beyond the box score.
- Stony Brook’s Faceoff team. (It’s more than just the FOGO Kyle Rowe) had a very strong game, with Long Stick Dylan Curry and SSDM Lucas Rock boxing out Rutgers wing players, for Rowe winning the draw and securing the groundball. When needed, Dylan Curry was able to gather the groundball and move the ball quick to the Stony Brook Offense.
- Short Stick Defense is much improved, especially in the fourth quarter with Lucas Rock and Cody Vassallo both playing well in between the lines with great groundball play and running out clears into the offensive zone.
- Timely Scoring by Mike Andreassi. The junior co-captain scored two crucial goals in the fourth quarter to seal the win. This includes an old school overhand bounce shot on Extra Man to make it 11-8.
- Balanced scoring. All four attackman who play in the rotation as well as all three starters at midfield scored. This is a great formula for success when you have all of your top personnel scoring. Added
- Closing out games. For a team that has lost a number of one-goal games over the past two seasons, the Seawolves stayed on the gas pedal in the final five minutes to pull away and win by three.
For Rutgers, I was extremely impressed by Rich Rambo who had a game high three goals. All of his goals were the highlight reel variety with all three shots high with velocity/authority. In addition to Rambo, sophomore goalie Kris Alleyne was impressive with nine saves, keeping Rutgers in the game with several clean saves inside versus the Seawolves attack on the doorstep.
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