Stony Brook's Identity Shines Through to Capture CAA Crown

TOWSON, Md. — Up 11 with under a minute before the half Saturday afternoon, Ellie Masera wasn’t scoreboard watching. Or if she was, she just didn’t care that top-seeded Stony Brook led by as much as it did as early as it did.

She saw the ball hit the turf. She saw Towson’s Samantha Intrieri pick it up. She saw Intrieri turn on the jets, racing up the field to clear and set up a Tigers possession.

The score didn’t matter to Masera. Only the play. She found a gear few in college lacrosse can find, chasing Intrieri to the opposite end line and causing a turnover. It helped set up a goal by Clare Levy 26 seconds later.

Stony Brook, new to the CAA this season, walked away with a 19-4 win — a conference championship game record for both goals and final margin — and its first CAA crown. Stony Brook had won the past nine America East championships before making the move.

“That’s who we are,” Seawolves head coach Joe Spallina said. “That’s the identity of our program. It always has been.”

Masera was named the tournament MVP. She had five goals, three assists and seven draw controls, and along with Levy (four draw controls) and Charlotte Verhulst (two draw controls), Stony Brook held a 15-9 edge in the circle.

“I think that is what makes Stony Brook, Stony Brook,” Masera said of her chase-down play on the ride. “Nobody gives up on those plays. It’s not just me, it’s every single player on the ride. We just don’t like to give up.”

Two weeks ago, Towson played Stony Brook close — a 14-11 loss for the Tigers. Saturday’s game was all Seawolves. They raced to a 7-0 lead and then 8-1 after the first quarter. Kailyn Hart (four goals, one assist), Jolie Creo (two goals, three assists) and Verhulst each scored twice in the first 15 minutes.

Stony Brook showed the depth of its offense, as Masera and Morgan Mitchell (three goals, two assists) then had multi-goal second quarters. Eight Seawolves scored goals and 10 had points in the contest. Stony Brook led 14-2 at halftime.

“I have to give credit where credit’s due, and I think Stony Brook, their players, they were on fire and forced us to have to make adjustments, put us on our heels,” Towson head coach Sonia LaMonica said. “The draws were a big factor. Ellie Masera, Clare Levy on the draw circle, they really dominated, and they gave us fits.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same — at least in terms of Stony Brook’s success in conference play. A season after defecting from the America East, the Seawolves earned the top seed in the CAA tournament with a 7-0 mark. They then coasted to a conference championship.

Still, the CAA is a statistically better conference top to bottom than the America East, and it presented a new challenge to Spallina’s team. He thinks it sets his team up for the NCAA tournament. Stony Brook will know more about its NCAA tournament path after Selection Sunday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

“I’m not sure we were always on a crescendo at the end of the America East season like we are now, and that’s something I’m excited about,” said Spallina, who added that he thinks Stony Brook won’t “be your typical unseeded team.”

Seeding narratives and controversies are the norm around Stony Brook this time of year, but it doesn’t seem to be the case right now. Stony Brook, 13-3 with losses to Northwestern, Syracuse and Rutgers, looks like it won’t host first- or second-round games. That’s no bother to players like Masera.

“We don’t play the scoreboard,” Spallina said. “We play to our identity, and our identity is those kinds of plays. That’s a play that, at 13-2, it’d be very easy for her to just turn and jog in. But it’s personal for our kids.”