A pair of first half-goals propelled the Stony Brook women’s soccer team — who were in the driver’s seat for most of the day — to the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) final.
The Seawolves (13-3-3, 7-1-2 CAA) hosted the Elon Phoenix (13-4-1, 7-3-0 CAA) for a playoff semifinal showdown at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Sunday. Behind an impressive performance on both ends of the field, Stony Brook made it out with a 2-1 victory — setting up a heavyweight matchup against co-regular season champions and first-seeded Monmouth for the league’s crown.
The Seawolves set the tone immediately in their first-ever home CAA playoff game. After 29 minutes of action, they earned five corner kicks and attempted five shots, which included forward Gabrielle Côté being denied by the post.
In the 30th minute, Stony Brook broke through. Forward Luciana Setteducate — a 2024 All-CAA First Team selectee — won possession in the midfield and played a through ball into the path of Côté, who was darting down the left wing. She split free into the box and was tripped up by Elon defender Rachel Buckle, resulting in a penalty kick.
With their clearest chance to get on the scoreboard to that point, the Seawolves turned to their penalty expert and 2024 All-CAA Second Team forward, Reilly Rich. Calm as ever, Rich fired the ball into the upper right corner, which, despite Elon goalkeeper Katie Bisgrove diving the right way, found the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Just 10 minutes later, Stony Brook doubled its advantage. From 40 yards away from the goal in the 40th minute, defender Aneta Sováková delivered a pinpoint cross into the Phoenix’s box towards 2024 CAA Co-Midfielder of the Year Linn Beck. After bypassing Elon’s offside trap, Beck — while on the run — timed her jump perfectly and gave Bisgrove no chance with a powerful header, cushioning the Seawolves to a 2-0 lead.
“[Beck and I] have really good chemistry,” Sováková said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “We do it in practice all the time, so it was natural for both of us. I just tried to find her and it happened to be great.”
Even though it held a comfortable advantage, Stony Brook came out firing in the second half. In the first 22 minutes of the period, it attempted 11 shots to the Phoenix’s none.
“In a game like this against a team like this, sitting back and defending is not what we want to do,” head coach Tobias Bischof said. “It’s not in our DNA. We wanted to attack and we had assignments. We knew how we wanted to press and the girls stuck with it.”
Despite the avalanche of shots, the Seawolves failed to put Elon to bed with a third goal — in large part due to Bisgrove’s efforts — opening the door for the visitors to strike, which they finally did late into the match.
In the 88th minute — following a giveaway from defender Eva Sprewell — Elon midfielder Kennedy Jones floated a cross over a Stony Brook defense that was playing a high line. Elon forward Lauren McCauley, who was unmarked in the Seawolves’ box and onside, was the recipient of Jones’ gift and capitalized, as she tucked away a finish into the bottom right corner past goalkeeper Nicolette Pasquarella to trim her team’s deficit in half.
However, McCauley’s tally served as mere consolation, as time ran out on the Phoenix’s season while Stony Brook players celebrated on the field.
“We set the goal this year to make the championship game and win hopefully, so it always feels good to accomplish that goal,” Bischof said. “We outshot them, but the difference today was that we were just cleaner in the attacking third. We could have definitely scored more, but overall [I am] happy with the win.”
The Seawolves finished with a significant edge in shots; 22 (eight shots on goal) to seven (two shots on goal).
Pasquarella did not see much action between the sticks, as she finished with just one save. Conversely, Bisgrove had a busy afternoon and concluded her 2024 campaign with a six-stop outing.
With her 19th goal as a Stony Brook player, Rich moved to 10th in the program’s all-time goal list. Meanwhile, Sováková’s eighth assist of the year has positioned her in a tie for fourth place in Seawolves history for single-season assists, joining the ranks of Monica Garcia and Sarah Greenberg.
As it hopes to raise a trophy and head to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2020, Stony Brook will travel to West Long Branch, N.J., to take on the Hawks. The match will take place on Saturday. Monmouth enters the title affair with a 12-2-5 overall and 7-1-2 CAA record. It defeated Hofstra 4-2 in the other conference semifinal. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
