After taking a big early lead, the Stony Brook women’s soccer team had the wind taken from its sails due to a controversial goal towards the end of the first half.
Though the Seawolves (3-1-4, 1-0-2 CAA) jumped out to a 2-0 lead with ease on Thursday night, they could not hold it for the full 90 minutes against the Delaware Blue Hens (3-3-3, 0-1-2 CAA). The momentum in Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium flipped after an offsides call was not made on a Blue Hens’ goal, leading to Stony Brook blowing the lead and ultimately drawing 2-2.
The Seawolves started with a bang. In the 12th minute, forward Luciana Setteducate triggered a counterattack with an interception before passing out wide to midfielder Linn Beck. Beck crossed the ball into the box, but Delaware goalkeeper Mia Reed deflected it away. However, forward Gabrielle Côté was there to bury the rebound for her third goal of the year.
In the 31st minute, Stony Brook doubled its lead when defender Catharina von Drigalski found forward Reilly Rich with a precise out-swinging cross off a corner kick. Rich headed it in for her team-leading fourth goal of the season, putting her team in the driver’s seat.
Four minutes before halftime, controversy broke out on the pitch when a pair of Blue Hens’ attackers snuck behind the Seawolves’ backline. With Delaware forward Maggie Groh in an offsides position, her teammate — midfielder Willa Pratt — sprinted up the pitch alongside her and played a through ball towards the final third. Goalkeeper Nicolette Pasquarella came out to play it and mishandled it, allowing Groh to slip past her and finish the easy tap in.
Head coach Tobias Bischof and his staff all beckoned for an offsides call from the officials, but their requests fell on deaf ears.
“That goal looked like it was definitely offsides,” Bischof said in a postgame interview with The Statesman.
Groh’s goal came back to haunt Stony Brook, as in the 88th minute, Delaware equalized with a goal from defender Constanze Viehmann. Her shot hit the right woodwork and the ball slowly trickled past the goal line, knotting up the match at two apiece. The Seawolves did not have a miracle left in them and settled for the draw and just one point in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) standings.
By losing valuable breathing room just before halftime, Bischof said his team was left susceptible to squandering its prime opportunity.
“When you give up a goal [there], that makes the whole game interesting,” Bischof said. “If you go into the half with a 2-0 lead, the second half is going to be a little bit different. But unfortunately, that was not the case. In the second half, we were rushing things a little bit.”
Stony Brook outshot Delaware 11-9. The Seawolves landed six of their shots on target, while Delaware only totaled four shots on goal. Rich and Côté co-led the team with a pair of shots on goal. Beck and midfielder Kristina Garcia each landed one shot on target.
Pasquarella picked up a pair of saves, including one acrobatic, reactionary save in the 11th minute to waste a Delaware opportunity.
Looking ahead, Stony Brook will host its cross-town rivals — the Hofstra Pride — for the Battle of Long Island on Sunday at 2 p.m. Hofstra is 5-2-0 this year and 2-0-0 in CAA play after beating Drexel 3-2 on Thursday.
