Syracuse, NY — Stony Brook coach Joe Spallina called out his team’s makeshift locker room for Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game at Syracuse following the Seawolves’ 15-10 loss to the Orange.
While stating the setup “had nothing to do with us losing,” Spallina expressed disappointment his team was provided a tent outside the Ensley Center and near the SU Soccer Stadium to prepare for the game.
“It really wasn’t the best situation,” Spallina said. “It was disappointing. Women deserve a better setup for an NCAA Tournament game. Our kids played their last game and couldn’t change in the tent that was provided. It was straight mud. The locker room situation there in Ensley, they were in a nice room and we were in mud. I’m not being a sore loser. Before the game, I had a problem with this.”
Space in the Ensley Center is limited due to construction at the facility. The tent setup was also used for Friday’s Niagara-Stony Brook women’s lacrosse matchup at the SU Soccer Stadium and for ACC and NCAA Tournament soccer games in the fall due to construction at the Lally Athletics Complex.
The JMA Wireless Dome was not available for the women’s lacrosse tournament on Friday as the facility was set up for Syracuse graduation ceremonies throughout the weekend.
NCAA rules required that Sunday’s 2 pm game be played at the same facility as Friday’s Stony Brook-Niagara matchup.
“I just look at women’s athletes and the importance of quality. Towson (men’s lacrosse) will not be in a mud locker room tonight,” Spallina said. “So that was disappointing to me. Our players deserved a better situation. I can tell you, if Syracuse was at Stony Brook, they wouldn’t have a mud floor. If I’m not fighting for our kids, than who is?”
Spallina said he reached out to the NCAA to express his concerns before the game and that Stony Brook administration was “equally upset” with the tent situation.
A Syracuse spokeswoman deferred comment on Spallina’s complaints to the NCAA.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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