In a battle for Long Island supremacy, it was the underclassmen that led Stony Brook women’s soccer to a strong bounce back from last Thursday’s loss.
After suffering their first loss of the season against Quinnipiac, the Seawolves returned home and hosted the LIU Sharks at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Sunday. Stony Brook (3-1) dominated LIU 5-1, improving to 2-0 on its home field this year.
The Seawolves scored early and often on the LIU defense, as they put up three goals in the first half. Forward Reilly Rich began the scoring with her second goal of the season off of an assist from defender Morayo Adenegan. Just over two minutes later, forward Luciana Setteducate scored her first collegiate goal as she drove the ball into the net from 20 yards out. In the final five minutes of the first half, midfielder Jadyn Lui scored her first collegiate goal with a head-tap off of an assist from defender Madison Sleiman.
Nearly 20 minutes into the second half, midfielder Linn Beck shot the ball into the net for her second goal of the season to put the game out of reach. To wrap up the scoring barrage, defender Sammy Hannwacker scored the final goal with less than 10 minutes to play.
Of the five players who scored for Stony Brook, four were freshmen. Head coach Tobias Bischof spoke highly of his young players in a postgame interview with The Statesman.
“We brought a lot of people in, very talented people,” Bischof said. “Very early in their career they get quite a lot of playing time and are doing good with it.”
Setteducate became the fourth different freshman to score for the Seawolves this year.
“I feel great,” Setteducate said. “It’s nice to get a goal. This is the fourth game and I’ve been waiting to get a goal and now I finally got one. I’m glad I got to score in a game where everyone got to score, too.”
The goalkeepers for Stony Brook — Jordan Wolf and Nicolette Pasquarella — combined for five saves. In the first half, LIU forward Jaylin Counts scored her first career goal off of Wolf to cut the score to 2-1. This was the only goal for the Sharks, as the Seawolves’ defense and goaltending locked them down. Pasquarella recorded three saves and held LIU scoreless in her season debut.
Setteducate, Beck and Rich each had two shots on goal for Stony Brook. The team had a total of 18 shots in the match, their second-highest total in a game this year. The Seawolves also won the time of possession battle and had five corner kick opportunities.
“It’s amazing,” Lui said. “Really the only chance I have to score is on corners, so I try my best every time, and this time I just put it away.”
Stony Brook’s next match will be on the road against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The game kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1. The Bearcats won against Murray State on Sunday 2-0, and currently are unbeaten at 2-0-2 on the season.
