April 30, 2003

Final Stats

Albany, N.Y. - America East Player of the Year Luke Daquino scored three goals and added an assist to power Albany to an 11-5 win over Stony Brook in America East semifinal action on Wednesday. In a game marked by big runs, the Great Danes scored the final five goals of the game to ruin Stony Brook's hopes of defending its 2002 America East crown.

Matthew Green put Albany ahead 1-0 at 2:14 of the first quarter and the Great Danes added three more goals in the second quarter, the final coming off the stick of Chris Driscoll with four seconds remaining, to send the hosts into the half up 4-0.

Michael Solazzo, a second-team all-conference selection, scored back-to-back goals to open up the third quarter and it looked like Albany was in control with a 6-0 lead.

Stony Brook's offense finally awoke with George LaFlare's man-up tally at 9:50 of the third which sparked a five-goal run for the defending champs. First-team all-conference pick Jason Cappadoro score two straight goals and Adam Marksberry's tally with 2:20 left in the quarter made the score 6-4 with 15 minutes to play.

Kevin Shea capped the five-goal outburst, taking a feed from Cappadoro at 13:29 of the fourth quarter in front of the Albany goal and dunking it home to slice Albany's advantage to 6-5.

On the ensuing face-off, Stony Brook's Fraser Kersey was flagged for a slash and Daquino made the Seawolves pay with his second goal of the game at the 13:00 mark. Driscoll extended the lead to 8-5 at 8:29 and Daquino completed the hat trick with a terrific unassisted goal 1:31 later.

Chris Martocchia closed out the scoring with a pair of goals in the final two minutes.

Kevin Rae made 16 stops, 11 in the second half, to earn his eighth win of the season. Errol Wilson recorded 12 saves in the loss for Stony Brook.

Albany improved to 9-5 while Stony Brook ended the 2003 campaign with a 5-10 record. Albany will play the winner of the Hartford/Vermont semifinal matchup on Saturday.

Cappadoro finished with two goals and two assists to finish with 43 points which set a new rookie single-season record, surpassing the previous mark of 41 set by Steve Conlon. Kyle Pearl recorded nine ground balls to up his team-leading total to 104 and become the first player in the program's Division I history to record more than 100 ground balls in a single season.