Men’s soccer got back on the winning track on Sept. 25 with a dominating 4-1 home victory over the Marist Red Foxes. The victory pushed the Seawolves to 5-3-0 on the season.
‘The team came out and played with passion and emotion,’ Head Coach Cesar Markovic said, commenting on the performance of the team.
The Seawolves out shot the Red Foxes by a 27-13 margin. SB dominated play and was able to put 16 of its shots on target, compared to only two by Marist.
SB carried the play for the first 20 minutes, peppering shots towards the Marist goal. Michael Palacio was stopped once early by Marist goaltender Daniel Owens, but converted his second shot of the night when he headed a cross from Petar Rakovic. The goal came in the 15th minute, and it was Palacio’s third of the season.
SB failed to cash in on a glorious chance in the 24th minute when Mladen Ramic took a cross and headed it into the crossbar. The rebound bounced in front of the net and another SB player missed high with an athletic bicycle kick.
Just 14 minutes later, Marist sophomore forward Corey Perkins streaked down the right sideline with a defender on his back and fired a shot low to the ground that found its way past SB goaltender Rich Skoblicki. It was the only blemish for Skoblicki on the night, as he saved the only other Marist shot that founds its way to the net en route to his first win of the season. Junior Dawid Ditrich had started the last five games, but was injured in pre-game warm ups according to coach Markovic. Markovic said Ditrich should be back in goal in the next game.
In the 38th minute Sebastian Villa scored his first goal of the season after he deflected a cross from Tamer Mohamed across the box with his head.
Marist’s best bid at a second goal came in the 42nd minute. After a foul occurred about seven yards in front of the SB goal, all 11 players formed a wall across the goal line and kept two Marist shots out of the net.
Late in the second half SB added two goals to ice the game. Palacio scored his fourth on the year in the 81st minute when he banged home a rebound.
‘Michael Palacio will go down as the most consistent talent to ever play soccer at the division I level for Stony Brook,’ coach Markovic said after the game.
The final goal came in the 87th minute, when Mark Secko scored his first goal of the season off an assist from Maurice Brown.
League play begins Oct. 6, and Markovic believes the team has what it takes to win the America East.
‘I think we have a mature and talented group that can maintain a consistent level. We have a good shot at winning the league if we continue to improve.’
Before their first league game, SB travels to Maryland to face the #18 Maryland Terrapins on Oct. 2.
