The Shewolves women’s lacrosse season hasn’t been over for 48 hours but already fans and players are looking ahead to 2018, when Stony Brook figures to be even better than their 20–2 record this year.
No doubt their heartbreaking loss to #1 Maryland in the quarterfinals still stings, but a one-goal loss on the road to an undefeated Terrapins squad that hadn’t trailed by as many as four goals all season is nothing to hang your head about. Coach Joe Spallina and Stony Brook fans have plenty of reason for optimism though: as historically good the Seawolves’ 2017 season was, 2018 projects to be even better. So much so that Stony Brook has a strong case to be considered the preseason front-runner next year.
More often than not, the eventual national champion is given the benefit of doubt by the preseason prognosticators, and for good reason. But not often does a Top 5 team like these Seawolves return so much depth and benefit from the addition of a known entity like Courtney Murphy.
The reigning NCAA record-holder for goals scored in a single season was lost for the year in the early goings of 2017, and she has already announced her intention to return from an ACL tear to play her final season as a graduate student with the Seawolves. She’ll join fellow senior Kylie Ohlmiller—now the NCAA record-holder for total points in a single season—to form the most formidable attacking duo in the country.
Add to that an experienced Taryn Ohlmiller, who stepped up in Murphy’s absence to turn in a Rookie of the Year-worthy résumé, and a bevy of returning starters like Inside Lacrosse All-America first-teamer Brooke Gubitosi; rising junior goalie Anna Tesoreiro who anchored the best scoring defense in the country; and midfielders Samantha DiSalvo and Ally Kennedy, and the Shewolves are sitting pretty.
Stony Brook will of course be losing some key contributors to graduation—Dorrien Van Dyke had nearly 200 goals during her four years, Kristin Yevoli was among the best midfielders in the country—but they will return 77 percent of their scoring and four of their top five goal scorers—not including Murphy. Add to them a group of incoming freshmen and underclassmen and Stony Brook figures to be in very, very good shape to win their sixth straight America East title and take the next step in the NCAA tournament. And did we mention Stony Brook will host the Final Four next season? As if they needed more motivation.
The only thing that’s not clear about Stony Brook’s status as next year’s team to beat is whether or not they want that distinction at all. Even as they’ve made a habit of knocking off top-ranked competition, the Seawolves continually find themselves underrated by lacrosse analysts and, more recently, the NCAA selection committee, which handed 18–1 Stony Brook—then ranked fourth in national polls—the eight seed for the tournament. Coach Spallina’s squads tend to thrive in the role of overlooked underdog, constantly looking to prove the skeptics and doubters wrong.
After handing it to the Terps on Saturday, they might have finally done it.
