After the team’s tough overtime loss to Boston University on Oct. 15, head coach Ryan Anatol was hoping for a positive result in Saturday’s game against hapless Binghamton, who had yet to record a win in conference play.

He got that with an important 2-1 win, thanks to goals from his top offensive players, juniors Leonardo Fernandes and Berian Gobeil-Cruz, and clinching a spot in the America East playoffs.

“They are getting the points, and getting a lot of credit for that,” said Anatol. “But for me, it’s a lot more then that, it’s their work in training, it’s how hard they compete on a daily basis.”

The first half of play saw no score, with Stony Brook seeing the better of the chances.

In a chaotic sequence during the 29th minute inside the Binghamton box, Gobeil-Cruz’s close shot was turned aside by Binghamton goalkeeper Chris Hayen.

Charlie Jones followed that up with a shot from 15 yards out, but that was deflected away by the Binghamton defense.

“I thought in the first half, they were very direct and I thought we were losing some of the 50-50 battles,” said Anatol. “We spoke about that at halftime, and I thought we did a lot better job of competing.”

After halftime, Stony Brook wasted little time establishing themselves.

In the 52nd minute, Keith McKenna was taken down inside the Binghamton box, and the referee awarded a penalty.

Fernandes stepped up to take the kick and made no mistake, burying the penalty kick and breaking the Seawolves’ two-game goal drought.

After Stony Brook was awarded a free kick in the 70th minute, Fernandes played the ball into the box, with Gobeil-Cruz connecting on a header 10 yards out to give Stony Brook an insurance goal.

“They are good soccer players,” Anatol said. “Every player’s got their own unique ability, and they are special in their own regards.”

Gobeil-Cruz’s goal would turn out to be an important one.

In the 83rd minute, Binghamton’s Jake Keegan headed in a cross from Adam Whitehead, giving Binghamton its first goal in conference play.

“We were disappointed to give up one,” said Anatol. “But I thought we did a good job of managing the game at the end to get the result.”

Tensions were high throughout the game.

Early in the first half, there was a spat between Gobeil-Cruz and Binghamton’s Trey Jasenski, but no bookings were made.

Overall, there were three yellow cards given out, with Binghamton’s Derrick Ladeairous and Whitehead, along with Stony Brook’s Mehdi Belakehal being the guilty parties.

With the win, Stony Brook improves to a 3-1-1 record in America East play and sits third with 10 points, two points behind UMBC and Boston University, who are both tied for first place with 12 points.

Despite the conference playoffs approaching, Anatol remains focused on the team’s next game against UMBC on Wednesday, where they will have a chance to move up in the standings.

“We are not even looking at the playoffs yet,” said Anatol. “Our focus right now is on tomorrow, the playoffs for us are a long way away.”