April 10, 2001

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Senior All-American Keith Cromwell's goal with 4.5 seconds left in regulation lifted No. 19 Rutgers to a thrilling come-from-behind 12-11 win in an ECAC Lacrosse League matchup at Seawolves Field Tuesday afternoon. Cromwell's goal, his third of the game, came after he tied the score at 11 with 2:21 left.

The win capped a comeback which saw Rutgers trail by as many as five goals on two occasions. Stony Brook scored the first four goals of the game sparked by Denis Scannell's opening tally at 13:38 of the first quarter. The Seawolves then got a pair of goals from Kevin Pall later in the quarter and SB held a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Stony Brook built its lead to 6-1 in the second quarter on goals from Tris Gillen, Pall and Scannell but the Scarlet Knights received goals from Mike McLauglin and Scott Massey in the final 58 seconds of the half to cut SB's lead to 6-3 at the break.

Rutgers continued their surge early in third as it scored six seconds into the half when McLaughlin took a pass from Brian Fisher, who had just won the faceoff, and found the net and Rutgers trailed by only two. However, Stony Brook's Jesse Foss then took over and scored three straight unassisted goals in a span of 1:22 to build the Seawolves lead to 9-4.

Rutgers bounced back to score five of the next six goals to slice Stony Brook's lead to 10-9 heading into the final quarter. Kevin Buchan's first goal of the game tied the score at 10 at the 12:35 mark. It was the first time the game had been tied since the opening face-off.

Pall then scored a beautiful goal just over five minutes later, taking a feed from Scannell and whipping an underhand shot past Dan Shaivitz and SB was back in front 11-10 with seven minutes to go.

Cromwell then went to work and got Rutgers even again at the 2:21 mark as he raced out from behind the net and rifled a shot home to knot the game at 11. Stony Brook won the ensuing face-off but turned the ball over which helped set up the winning tally. The winning goal was almost identical to the tying goal as Cromwell received the ball unmarked behind the Stony Brook net and ran out in front to fire a shot over the shoulder of Steve Armsworthy with 4.5 ticks on the clock.

Cromwell, the nation's leading point getter, finished with three goals and two assists. His three goals gives him 145 for his career, making him the school's all-time leading goal scorer. McLaughlin also recorded three goals and two assists. Shaivitz finished with eight saves on the afternoon.

Pall was outstanding again for Stony Brook as he matched his career high with five goals. Armsworthy made 14 saves in net for the Seawolves who fall to 3-6 on the year, 0-4 in conference play. Rutgers improves to 5-3 overall, 3-1 in ECAC Lacrosse League action.

Stony Brook is next in action this Saturday when it hosts in-state rival Albany. Face-off is 1:00 p.m.

Box Score
Rutgers (5-3, 2-1)     0-3-6-3=12
Stony Brook (3-6, 0-4) 3-3-4-1=11

Qtr.-Time     Scoring                             RU-SB
1-13:38       SB, Denis Scannell (LaFlare)        0-1
1-7:43        SB, Kevin Pall (Mazeika)            0-2
1-6:55        SB, Kevin Pall (LaFlare)            0-3
2-9:42        SB, Tris Gillen (un)                0-4
2-6:41        RU, Mike McLaughlin (Bryan)         1-4
2-3:52        SB, Kevin Pall (Gillen) EMG         1-5
2-1:54        SB, Denis Scannell (un)             1-6
2-:58         RU, Mike McLaughlin (un)            2-6
2-:04         RU, Scott Massey (un)               3-6
3-14:54       RU, Mike McLaughlin (Fisher)        4-6
3-13:25       SB, Jesse Foss (un)                 4-7
3-12:51       SB, Jesse Foss (un)                 4-8
3-12:03       SB, Jesse Foss (un)                 4-9
3-11:41       RU, Tim Horgan (Cromwell)           5-9
3-8:09        RU, Keith Cromwell (un)             6-9
3-7:12        RU, Scott Massey (McLaughlin)       7-9
3-4:02        SB, Kevin Pall (LaFlare)            7-10
3-2:09        RU, Nick Schmidt (un)               8-10
3-:42         RU, Scott Massey (McLaughlin)       9-10
4-12:35       RU, Kevin Buchan (Cromwell)         10-10
4-7:00        SB, Kevin Pall (Scannell)           10-11
4-2:21        RU, Keith Cromwell (un)             11-11
4-:04.5       RU, Keith Cromwell (un)             12-11

TEAM STATS      RUTGERS       STONY BROOK
Shots             46              25
Groundballs       43              41
Saves             9               14
Clears           15/16           15/19
Extra-Man         0/4             1/3
Penalties        3/3:00          4/2:00

INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Rutgers         Goals-Assts.-Pts.
Keith Cromwell     3-2-5
Mike McLaughlin    3-2-5
Scott Massey       3-0-3
Nick Schmidt       1-0-1
Kevin Buchan       1-0-1
Tim Horgan         1-0-1
Chris Bryan        0-1-1
Brian Fisher       0-1-1

Stony Brook    Goals-Assts.-Pts.
Kevin Pall         5-0-5
Jesse Foss         3-0-3
Denis Scannell     2-1-3
George LaFlare     0-3-3
Tris Gillen        1-1-2
Tom Mazeika        0-1-1

GOALIES
Rutgers            Saves    GA    Min.
Dan Shaivitz         8      11     55
Chris Kenyon         1       0     5

Stony Brook        Saves    GA    Min.
Steve Armsworthy     14     12     60