April 4, 2008

Stony Brook, N.Y. - With just five games left in the regular season Stony Brook will play its next two games at home. The pair will be the only two home America East games of the season for the Seawolves, starting with a matchup with Vermont. Stony Brook will be looking for its first conference win of the season after dropping its America East opener at UMBC last week. A win over the Catamounts will put Stony Brook back above the .500 mark for the season and even its record in conference play as the team attempts to improve its position for a berth in the conference tournament in May. Despite the loss last week in Baltimore, Stony Brook remains just outside the top-20 in both the coaches and media polls, receiving votes in each. Vermont is coming into the Stony Brook game on a bit of a role. The Catamounts defeated Fairfield, 9-8, the last time out to raise their record to 3-7 for the season.

The Series

Stony Brook has had a relatively easy time with Vermont in lacrosse over the six-game history of the series, with the Seawolves winning all six previous meetings. All six of the series games have been America East contests, one each in each of the last six years. Stony Brook began the series in 2002 with a 12-8 win and took a 9-4 decision last season behind a pair of goals from Ryan Hughes and Sean Chamberlain. Three times during the series the Seawolves have scored at least 11 goals on the Catamounts; in five of the six games Vermont has scored either five or four goals with the exception coming in that 2002 contest.

A Look at the Catamounts

After starting with games at Duke and at Virginia and going 0-6 to start, Vermont has started to turn things around of late, winning three of its last four to improve to 3-7 overall. Last week the Catamounts overcame a 4-1 first quarter deficit against Fairfield, coming back to take a 9-8 victory on Derek Lichtfuss' goal with just 1:52 left in the game. Lichtfuss leads Vermont with 12 goals this season, with Andrew Kelleher just behind with 11. They are the only two players in double figures in the goal department. As a team Vermont leads the America East in groundballs, picking up 29.44 per game. They also share the league lead in man-up goals with 11. The game at Stony Brook will be the ninth on the road this season for Vermont which has played at home just twice this season. The Catamounts have won only once on the road, a 7-5 win at Hartford.