Camposa leads Stony Brook over Red Storm
Stony Brook's goalie Rob Camposa makes the save off shot by Ryan Fitzgerald. (March 15, 2011) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Sometime early in the fourth quarter, Rob Camposa started thinking about it.
The Stony Brook goalie had blanked St. John's for the first 45 minutes of action Tuesday, and the reality of a shutout was starting to creep into his mind.
"Since we got one last year [against Albany]," you're reminded that it can happen," Camposa said of the possibility of the rare accomplishment. "You try not to think about it because then you jinx yourself."
Whether it was a jinx or the waves of reserve players Stony Brook was sending onto the field late in the game, St. John's eventually scored. The Red Storm posted four fourth-quarter goals, in fact -- three of them against backup goalie John Bella -- to turn a lopsided runaway into a competitive 9-4 final score that both teams were able to find positives in.
For No. 5 Stony Brook (3-1), it was another win and a chance to play some of its depth. For St. John's (1-4), it was an opportunity to hang with one of the elite programs in the country.
The young Red Storm did pretty well, with particularly strong performances from sophomore goalie Jeff Lowman (14 saves) and freshman defenseman Joe Addona, who helped keep Stony Brook sensation Kevin Crowley to a goal and two assists.
Stony Brook scored its goals in bunches. There were two in the first 1:57 of the game and three in a 1:45 span in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Camposa was turning away point-blank shots with some dizzying saves (he had 14 total) and starting to consider the possibility of a shutout. That ended 48:27 into the game.
"Thank God our goalie played well. It gave us a chance to build a lead," Stony Brook coach Rick Sowell said.
Sowell took a lot of lumps on St. John's DaSilva Memorial Field when he re-initiated the program in 2005. In two seasons, his teams went 6-20 before he took over at Stony Brook and built that program into a consistent top 10 team and title contender. Tuesday was his first time back on the Queens campus since he left, and plenty has changed as he looked around at new buildings and facilities and noted that none of his recruits are any longer on the Red Storm roster.
"I certainly have fond memories of my time here," Sowell said. "It feels good to be back, especially when you get a win."
