After having the match moved up 18 hours early, the Stony Brook men’s soccer team was blanked once again.
The Seawolves (3-7, 1-4 CAA) traveled to West Long Branch, N.J. on Friday to take on the Monmouth Hawks. Stony Brook came away with a 3-0 defeat after a poor performance on both sides of the ball. The loss extended their losing streak to six games (four in-conference), marking their fifth shutout loss during this stretch.
The Hawks opened the scoring in the 26th minute when forward Ben Zakowski scored off of an assist by midfielder Griffin Tomas. Stony Brook shot itself in the foot in the 39th minute, allowing an own goal to double their deficit.
Things did not get better in the second half, as the Seawolves were kept off the scoreboard by Monmouth’s defense. Midfielder Gabriel Miranda capped off the scoring in the 79th minute, when he scored his first goal of the season off of an assist by midfielder Brett Sieg.
It was a game to forget for Stony Brook. The team was outshot 16-5 and forced to make six more saves than Monmouth. The Seawolves did not register their first shot until the 43rd minute when they were already down 2-0.
A bright spot for Stony Brook was goalkeeper Edmond Kaiser. The senior tallied a season-high eight saves, including five second-half saves that kept the team alive in the match. It was the highest number of saves Kaiser has made in a game since Oct. 9th, 2021 at UMBC, when he also made eight saves in a 3-1 Stony Brook victory.
Midfielder Trausti Birgisson was Stony Brook’s leading shot-taker on Friday. He totaled two shots for the Seawolves with both on target. His shots were the only two that challenged Monmouth goalkeeper Eryk Dymora, as he posted a clean sheet against Stony Brook. The three other Seawolves to register a shot were defender Jon Jelercic, midfielder Amit Magoz, and forward Moses Bakabulindi.
The game was originally set to be played on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. It was pushed forward due to weather conditions.
The Seawolves have now lost four consecutive CAA games since their debut in the conference, when they defeated the Hofstra Pride 2-1 on Sept. 3. Since then, they have not scored and have been outshot in all of those contests.
This current losing streak is the longest that Stony Brook has suffered since the 2008 season, when they lost seven in a row. That team fell to 2-10-1 after the losing streak and finished the season 3-12-4.
Stony Brook will return to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 8 in another CAA showdown against the College of Charleston Cougars at 12 p.m. The Cougars are 3-3-2 on the season and 2-1-1 in the CAA. They are coming off a 3-0 victory over UNC Asheville.
