UAlbany Men's Lacrosse Team Advances to NCAA Tournament

Women fall to Stony Brook in America East championship game

The UAlbany Men's Lacrosse team races onto the field after winning the America East Championship in Stony Brook, N.Y.

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (May 4, 2013) -- For the fifth time in program history, the University at Albany is the America East Men's Lacrosse champion. The Great Danes scored five consecutive goals to end the first half and got nine points from the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Lyle Thompson, to beat third-seeded UMBC, 19-10, Saturday morning at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium.

The women's lacrosse team advanced to the America East championship game, but fell to top-seeded Stony Brook. UAlbany's Ariana Parker, Jess Antelmi and Allie Phelan each made the all-tournament team.

The victory by the men's team sends UAlbany to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time, the first since 2007, when the Great Danes lost an overtime thriller in the quarterfinals to Cornell. The Great Danes, who are ranked 12th in the nation, will travel to Colorado to face the Denver Pioneers on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

UAlbany's Lyle Thompson, a sophomore from the Onondaga Nation, was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Thompson, the league's Player of the Year, totaled 15 points on six goals and nine assists during the tournament, setting a new conference standard. His brother, Miles, an All-Championship selection, added five goals and two assists for the Great Danes, who set a new tournament record with 36 goals in their two games

UAlbany (13-4) scored the game's first goal, a blast from Ty Thompson off a feed from his cousin, Lyle, on the man advantage, but UMBC (7-9) countered with scores by Dave Campbell and Scott Jones.

The two teams then traded three-goal spurts, as Lyle Thompson scored and set up UAlbany's three goals before UMBC (7-8) scored three times in a 3:23 span. Nate Lewnes, Jones and Matt Gregoire found the back of the cage as UMBC took a 5-4 lead with 9:18 left in the first.

From there, UAlbany's top-scoring offense took over, as did its defense, as the Great Danes scored nine of the game's 10 goals, including five straight to end the second quarter. Miles Thompson's third score of the half with 55 seconds left gave his team a 9-5 lead at the break.

The Retrievers, who were seeking their fourth league crown and first since 2009, got a score from America East Rookie of the Year Pat Young to start the second half, but UAlbany scored the next four to put the game out of reach. The closest UMBC got the rest of the was within six on Scott Jones' score, which made it 14-8 1:12 into the fourth quarter.

But the Great Danes, who have won nine of their last 10 games, scored four of the last five goals of the game to cap the win, including a highlight reel score between the legs with his back facing the cage from Ty Thompson.

The Thompson trio combined for 11 of UAlbany's 19 goals, while Blaze Riorden made nine saves, including five in the third quarter. Jones' four goals paced UMBC, while Wes DiRito made 10 stops in the cage.

UAlbany controlled the faceoff circle, winning 17 of 32 draws, including 10 of 17 after halftime.

Joining Lyle and Miles Thompson and Jones all the All-Championship team were UAlbany's Kevin Glueckert and Anthony Ostrander, UMBC's Joe Lustgarten and Phil Poe, Hartford's Alex Matarazzo and Jack Bobzien and Stony Brook's Brody Eastwood and Jeff Tundo.

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