SBU Lacrosse Alumni Organization: November 2010

11/23/10

PROFILE: George Benitez '14

A closer look at new defenseman George Benitez '14:

George Benitez '14
Darien, CT / Darien HS
Defense
6'0'' 185lbs
#3

SB Profile: http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-lacros/mtt/benitez_george00.html

George Benitez '14 was named to the 2010 HS All America Team after leading Darien to its fifth consecutive CT State title.

-2010 All America Team: http://www.laxpower.com/all-amer/aa-list-hs.php?SelYear=2010&SelGender=B&SelList=AA

-2010 ESPN All-Rise Team Honorable Mention

-Laxpower 2010 All-Eastern Region First Team

-2010 CT Class M All State Team: http://www.laxlessons.com/blog/2010/06/connecticut-all-america-all-state-teams/

-Maxpreps reports on Benitez's commitment to SB: http://www.maxpreps.com/news/BZutyJb0Ed6OEwAcxJTdpg/lacrosse--careys-darienzo-makes-commitment-to-maryland.htm

-Laxlessons.com reports on Benitez's commitment to SB: http://www.laxlessons.com/recruit/images/comprofiler/tn104_49e3d5714c1c8.jpg

-MSG Varsity article on Darien's "Ministers of Defense" focuses on Benitez shutting out Yorktown All America attcker Kevin Interlicchio in a 10-3 victory: http://www.msgvarsity.com/columns/kevin-devaney-jr/darien-s-ministers-of-defense-stifle-huskers-1.23024

-Darien wins CT Class M State Championships against New Fairfield, 17-5. IL mentions that Benitez is part of a stifling and tenacious defense that makes few mistakes. http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/06/12/connecticut-high-school-state-championships-reports

-Darien is still the team to beat (photo #2): http://www.greenwichtime.com/default/article/FCIAC-BOYS-LACROSSE-Darien-still-the-team-to-beat-436609.php

-2009 Connecticut Super Juniors: http://www.ctlacrosse.org/Page.asp?n=37348&org=ctlacrosse.org

-2009 football article, quote, and photo: http://newcanaan.patch.com/articles/penalty-flags-decorate-field-for-turkey-bowl-win#photo-116358

Benitez fires a pass against New Canaan in the 2009 Turkey Bowl.

-The "Face of Blue Wave Football", Benitez is the QB and captain (photo included): http://www.darienps.org/neirad/0912teninfluential.php

-Football stats and photos (#3): http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/X6deEAWsNEW2eYhOyr8LcA/football-fall-08/stats-george-benitez.htm

Darien HS http://www.laxpower.com/update10/binboy/XDAICN.PHP
#11 Ranked National CCR
#11 Ranked National Poll
#196 Ranked National RPI
#2 Ranked New England Region
#1 Ranked CT State
#1 Ranked FCIAC
2010 CT State Champions

Benitez was named to the CT Super Juniors in 2009 and captained both the Darien football team and lacrosse team.

11/22/10

NEWSLETTER 19nov10

-Inside Lacrosse editors voted on a 2011 over/under, including a discussion on whether Kevin Crowley '11 will score 72 points this upcoming season: http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/11/11/looking-ahead-mens-division-i-lacrosse-2011-overunder

-SB Athletics launched a new interactive webpage on 11/16/10: http://www.goseawolves.org/index-main.html

-SB Lacrosse announced its 2011 roster: http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-lacros/mtt/ston-m-lacros-mtt.html

-Kevin Crowley '11 finished in 3rd place in Inside Lacrosse's 2010 Laxie Awards for Player of the Year. Crowley garnered 15.4% of the total vote, finishing behind Ned Crotty of Duke and Scott Rogers of Notre Dame. http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/11/17/inside-lacrosse-laxies-2010-player-year-winners

Kevin Crowley '11 was named to the AE First Team in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and was unanimously selected AE Player of the Year in 2010.

And just for fun, we found his 2007 New Westminster Salmonbellies profile (with photo): http://pointstreak.com/prostats/playerpage.html?playerid=1396638&seasonid=2154&numgames=all

-SB Women's Track & Field reached the National Championships for the 3rd time in 4 years. The Van Dalen sisters, Lucy and Holly, were named All America and finished 6th and 7th in Nationals. http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/c-xc/recaps/112210aaa.html

11/13/10

OUT OF THE ARCHIVES: SB Lacrosse All-Decade Team 2001-2010

The last ten seasons SB Lacrosse has been twice to the NCAA Tournament (with one victory), 8 All America Selections, an 86-66 record, an Enners Award Winner, the advent of LaValle Stadium, numerous America East honors, national statistics leaders in all categories, two America East titles, two America East Regular Season titles, multiple wins over ranked opponents, received commitments from HS All America selections and signed HS juniors, hosted two NCAA Quarterfinals, and hosted an NCAA Tournament game, among other successes.

As the third full decade of SB Lacrosse comes to a close, the Executive Board weighed in on the best and most outstanding athletes to don the scarlet & gray from 2001 through 2010:

SB Lacrosse All Decade Team 2001-2010

1st Team:
GK- Brendan Callahan '07
DEF- Kyle Pearl '05, Steve Waldeck '10, Dave Weiss '05
LSM- Eric Hatkewitz '04
FO- Adam Rand '11
DM- Mike Dworczyk '02, Aaron Weiss '04
OM- Denis Scannell '02, Owen Adams '08, Kevin Crowley '11, Rhys Duch '08
ATT- Jordan McBride '11, Kevin Pall '02, Jason Cappadoro '05, Tom Compitello '11

Honorable Mention:
GK- Steve Armsworthy '02, Charlie Paar '10
DEF- Dan Daponte '02, Chris Gignilliat '10, Jason Joiner '07, Nick Maturro '08
LSM- Brendan Mascuch '07
FO- Jim Astea '07, Dennis Nafte '03
DM- Bryan Johannysmeyer '08, Mike Poch '05, Vonzel Legall '11
OM- Ryan Hughes '08, Larry Cerasi '07, George Laflare '04, Robbie Campbell '12
ATT- Adam Marksberry '05, Bo Tripodi '07, Sean Chamberlain '07

11/11/10

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Glenn Kaminska '93

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
by Todd Caissie '92

Glenn Kaminska '93

Glenn played lacrosse at Stony Brook from 1989-91. He is currently a lawyer and Partner with the law firm Ahmuty, Demers & McManus. Glenn currently heads the Insurance Coverage Group and was recently recognized by Long Island Business News as one of the top 40 outstanding members of the business community on Long Island who is under the age of 40. http://admlaw.com/Glenn-A-Kaminska-atty-Ahmuty-Demers-and-McManus.

Glenn received his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law in 1998 and has been published multiple times in the New York Law Journal.

Interviewed by Todd Caissie '92

TC: Hi Glenn, First of all congratulations on being named one of the top 40 business people under 40 on Long Island for 2010. Tell me about your work and family? Where are you living now?

GK: Thanks. As head of the Insurance Coverage Group I am not only litigating and providing opinions to our clients, but I also spend a fair amount of time lecturing for my firm, and for the New York State Bar Association. I am living in Port Jefferson, NY with my wife Lydia, whom I met at Stony Brook, and our two wonderful sons Connor (age 9) and Aidan (age 8). I am involved with a group of parents who have set up a youth lacrosse league in Port Jefferson. So I get a little coaching in now.

TC: How did you end up at Stony Brook?

GK: I played high school lacrosse at Niagara Wheatfield in Niagara Falls, NY. I was recruited as a goaltender, but started as a converted long stick middie. I recall assistant coach Greg Cannella (now head coach at UMass), coming to my school to recruit me and for some reason I wasn’t there when he got there. Once I finally arrived people kept coming up to me saying that my name has been blasting on the loud speaker for a long time, but I had no idea why. After speaking with coach, I decided to take a recruiting trip. I took a flight to see the school and Head Coach John Espey, who was a great guy, picked me up at MacArthur Airport in Islip. I remember that instead of going directly to the school, Coach took me to see the ocean for the first time. This was around my birthday and I remember him saying “hey Glenn, how’d you like to celebrate your birthday next year in California?” It turned out that was where the team spent the following spring break.

TC: Where did you live during school?

GK: I lived in O’Neil College.

TC: What did you study?

GK: I majored in Political Science.

TC: What are some of your best memories from playing lacrosse at Stony Brook?

GK: Well my freshman year we went on a great 12 game win streak, which was the longest in the country at that time. We ended up only losing the first and last games (Georgetown and UPenn respectively) of the year.

Another was being part of the goalie tandem that recorded a shutout. That feat wasn’t repeated in more than 20 years until Charlie Paar '10 pitched shutout last season. Rob Serratore '92 played the first half and I played the second in a 20-0 win versus Southampton.

TC: Do you recall any specific memorable games?

GK: One of my most vivid game memories was playing at Lehigh my freshman year. It was a slushy, rainy, miserable cold day (I think I ended up getting pneumonia being out there actually). It was a tough hard hitting game with broken bones on both sides. The tone was set on the opening faceoff when Ron Capri '90, who you know was a big boy, playing the wing and completely steamrolled a Lehigh middle who literally crumbled to the ground and didn’t get up for a long long time. Not to mention we won!

TC: Any road trip stories? PG ones of course.

GK: Ha! I fondly remember our road trip to California for spring break for several reasons. One was because we spent our off day in Monterey and, being an avid golfer even back then, I knew Pebble Beach was right around the corner. I was so excited to be this close to such a storied course that I had to try to get a tee time. So, I called the golf club and was told I could play! I was just getting off the phone with my mom (had to make sure she’d cover the cost on my credit card), when who did I run into? Coach Espey. When I told him I was heading off on my own to Pebble Beach to play a round he said “oh no you’re not”. I was so close.

While in California, a funny moment came right after we’d defeated Cal Berkeley (luckily, since 3 of our best players missed the team bus and showed up sometime around half-and we were losing until they showed up). As we were walking to the bus from the field the Cal players were gathered around a keg in the corner of the stadium lot. They started waving and inviting us to join them. Of course half the team started to veer away from the bus and towards the keg, until the coaches could coral all of us back onto the bus.

TC: How about practice?

GK: I remember my first day of practice at the Brook. I’d always worn a bandana under my helmet playing lacrosse in high school and had one on for my first ever practice at SBU. Practice went by without a hitch, but when we finished Coach Espey called us in for his regular end of practice chat, I took off my helmet. When Espey saw the bandana on my head he ripped me a new one!

TC: Tell me another story about some of the games.

GK: My sophomore year we had a surreal experience. We were playing at UNC (Tar Heels went on to win the National Championship that year), and lost by a good margin. However, we played hard till the end, hit a lot of posts, and kept UNC scoreless for the entire third quarter (to that point in the season I don’t think anyone had kept them off the scoreboard for an entire quarter). The funny experience happened while we were walking off the field towards the dressing room with our heads down, dejected we’d lost. The quite a few UNC fans, uncharacteristically, came up to us and thanked us. Thanked us? Yup, they thanked us for not rolling over in the second half like Villanova did the previous game. Funny.

TC: What did you take from your time at the Brook?

GK: Stony Brook most importantly gave me a sense of community. Obviously, being a part of the lacrosse team was a big part of it, but I also did an internship with the Governor's Regional Representatives. Heck I even had a part time job delivering furniture to the dorms.

TC: You’ve accomplished a lot since graduation and have had a very successful career. Did you always want to be a lawyer?

GK: I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be a lawyer. I took a year off to work before attending St John’s University School of Law, but it was always my intention to go to law school. I received my J.D. in 1998 and joined my current firm, Ahmuty Demers & McManus right after graduation and have been here ever since.

TC: Do you have any advice to current SBU players?

GK: Work hard a being a great lacrosse player (I wished I had worked harder and stayed with it) and take advantage of what Stony Brook has to offer. You are at a very prestigious institution that is highly regarded throughout the world. Check out the Staller Center, go to concerts, film festivals, etc. Take part in the community that is Stony Brook University.

By Todd Caissie '92

11/8/10

NEWSLETTER 8nov10

-SB Lacrosse announces captains for the 2011 season: Jordan McBride '11, Tom Compitello '11, and Kevin Crowley '11. All three seniors are returning All America selections. http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-lacros/spec-rel/110310aaa.html

-Inside Lacrosse published a fall ball recap, including a short quote from Coach Sowell.
http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/11/01/fallball-2010-a-recap-octobers-di-games-scrimmages-and-events

-See fall ball footage of SB v UMass from October here: http://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/game-highlight/1739/college-fall-ball-highlights/

-Tim Trenkle '11 scored 3G against UMass in a fall ball scrimmage in October.

-Quint Kessenich of Inside Lacrosse published a fall ball check in that mentioned SB lacrosse as well. http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/10/29/fallball-2010-recap-notes-and-nuggets-fall-practice-check-ins

-Kessenich also mentioned SB Lacrosse in his offseason "To Do" list. http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/10/29/quint-kessenichs-division-i-offseason-do-list

-SB Lacrosse will be growing moustaches this November to raise funds for cancer research. Find the official press release here: and donate now: http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-lacros/spec-rel/110410aaa.html

And find the individual participant pages here and donate now: http://sportsgrants.rapidgiving.com/fundraising/page/3205/stony-brook-lacrosse-general-page

-SB Football is now 4-0 in the Big South Conference for 2010. The Seawolves take on Gardner Webb this weekend. http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110810aab.html

-SB Basketball announces its nine game TV schedule, including three games on ESPN networks: http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110310aaa.html

11/7/10

NEWSLETTER 7nov10

-The SB Lacrosse unofficial schedule for 2011 is below:

Sat 2/5/2011 LEHIGH/CW POST (scrimmage)
Sat 2/13/2011 @ Yale (scrimmage)
Sat 2/26/2011 VIRGINIA
Sat 3/5/2011 @ Marist
Sat 3/12/2011 DELAWARE
Tue 3/15/2011 @ St. John's
Sat 3/19/2011 @ Towson
Tue 3/22/2011 CORNELL
Sat 3/26/2011 BRYANT
Sat 4/2/2011 UMBC
Sat 4/9/2011 @ Hartford
Sat 4/16/2011 BINGHAMTON
Sat 4/23/2011 ALBANY
Sat 4/30/2011 @ Vermont

11/1/10

NEWSLETTER 1nov10

-The SB Lacrosse Parents Association is collecting orders for SB Lacrosse gear, including sweats, rain gear, hats, shirts, fleeces, golf shirts, etc. Please contact the Webmaster for more info on how to order.

Jersey numbers can be added to most items for additional charge.

SB Lacrosse gear can be ordered via mail or email. Check your latest Newsletter for order forms and contact info. Email the Webmaster for info on sizes, colors, embroidery, rain-proofing, and other questions.