Nov. 14, 2007

Stony Brook, N.Y. - As we close out my second fall ball season here at Stony Brook, I am pleased with our development as a team. Following 23 practices and successful weekend tournaments against Lehigh, Syracuse, Pennsylvania and our talented Alumni squad, we now enter the next phase of the fall season. Strength and conditioning, skill development and preparing for the challenges of the 2008 schedule will carry us through the end of the first semester.

One of the main reasons for our productive fall was the team's commitment to improve their physical conditioning during the summer. As I have said before, the foundation to my coaching philosophy relies on being fit. Simply put, I believe supreme condition and sound fundamentals are the first two ingredients for success. While talent plays a key role as well, it does so only after fitness and outstanding fundamentals have built a foundation for that talent.

My experience at Georgetown and Dartmouth taught me that there was a direct correlation between improvement in strength and conditioning and on-field success. I am extremely pleased with our effort and I am confident we are headed in the right direction.

In addition to our fitness, we also have a talented team. I began planning for 2008 immediately after our loss to Albany in the America East playoffs last year and although we were losing several seniors, I knew that many of our productive players were returning this season. Those players included; on attack, Bob Trenkle '08(Commack, N.Y.), Bo Tripodi '08 (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and Mike Trojanowski '08 (Hicksville, N.Y.) at midfield, Owen Adams '08 (Norwalk, Conn.), Rhys Duch '08 (Victoria, B.C.), Ryan Hughes '08 (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.), Taylor Eason '09 (Freeport, N.Y.) and Bryan Johansmeyer; '08 (Shelbourne Falls, Mass.) and on defense, Steve Waldeck '10 (Levittown, N.Y.), Chris Gignilliat '09 (Cicero. N.Y.), Will Koncynin '08 (Setauket, N.Y.) and Nick Maturro '08 (West Islip, N.Y.).

In addition to our returning players, we knew that our incoming class included several players that could have an immediate impact on our program. The class includes: Jordan McBride '11 (New Westminster, B.C.), an attackman who made first-team all-British Columbia Box League this past summer; Kevin Crowley '10 (New Westminster, B.C.), a midfielder who just recently was named to the Canadian U-19 National Team; Butler University transfers, midfielder, Kevin Finn (Evanston, Ill.) and long pole, Nate Diebel (Hilliard, Ohio); and freshmen face-off specialists Greg Khanzadian '10 (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Adam Rand '11 (Niantic, Conn.). Other returnees who are looking to expand their role are: Rob Camposa '10 (Syosset, N.Y.) and Alex Kajencki '10 (Medfield, Mass.) in the goal; Mike Sopko '10 (Shoreham-Wading River, N.Y.) and Sean LeFloch '08 (Bedford, N.Y.) at the long pole position and Drew Werney '09 (Somers, N.Y.) on attack. The combination of talent and the competition for playing time made for intense practice sessions throughout the fall.

Throughout the summer I spent a lot of time thinking about the team's strengths and where we needed to improve. In doing so, I was pleased with our development in our second season together and set out to tinker with our transition game and install a 2-2-2 offense. With our speed and athleticism at midfield, our finishers on attack and the fast-break ability of our goaltenders, I believe this could become a great asset to the team this year. In addition to the transition game, the 2-2-2 offense would do two things for us. First, it would force our attack to be more comfortable carrying and ball and second, allow our defense to become adept at playing against two attackmen behind the goal. All season long we will play teams (Virginia and UMBC to name a few) who have potent 2-2-2 offenses triggered at attack and we need to be well prepared to handle that type of offense in 2008.

Our first test against an opponent this fall came against Lehigh. Some of the things we had been working on showed up in that game but I thought we could play much better than we did that day.

Our play against Syracuse and UPenn the following weekend was much improved. No matter when you play Syracuse, it gives you a true measure of your team. Syracuse is always among the nation's elite and a great test for any team. Penn has qualified for the NCAA tournament in two of the last five years and is led by an outstanding coach and my good friend, Brian Volker. We performed very well, especially against Syracuse, and I know we will be better as a result of playing such high caliber teams.

The following weekend we concluded our team practice phase of fall ball by playing our alumni before the Homecoming football game. I was impressed by the alumni turnout as almost 50 former players returned to campus to knock off the rust, and take on the current edition of the Seawolves. The alums were up to the task but the current Seawolves team bested the alums early and often, cruising to victory. It was great to see our alums enjoy the day and we cannot thank them enough for the support of the program. It is your efforts that will take us to the next level.

Although we have much work ahead, I am encouraged with the team's progress thus far. As for next spring, we plan to be right in the thick of things come May. And if we stay healthy, I am confident we can do just that.

Go Seawolves!

Rick Sowell
Head Men's Lacrosse Coach