The Stony Brook men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 tie against Central Connecticut State University following a goal from senior Leonardo Fernandes. It was the team’s fifth consecutive game in which it did not lose.
CCSU’s Eddy Bogle passed the ball to Jesse Menzies, who scored in the top right corner of the goal. Fernandes later scored off of a pass from freshman Martin Giordano to tie the game.
Fernandes has scored goals in the team’s last four matches and points in 13 of 15 games. He is now tied with Charlie Matos (1985-88) for third all-time in career goals in Stony Brook history with 28 of them.
Senior Stefan Manz made eight saves in goal, one short of his career high.
The Seawolves are now 1-0-2 all-time against the Blue Devils, with one of those ties coming in 2005. They won the America East regular season and tournament championship that same year.
Senior Leonardo Fernandes had the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute, which gave the Seawolves a lead they would not relinquish.
With the win the Seawolves improved their record to 6-2 on the season. Their four game winning streak also ties their longest winning streak since 2007.
The Seawolves got off to a quick start, as freshman Martin Giordano broke open the scoring just 26 seconds in.
Giordano headed in a free kick by senior Kyle Schlesinger to give Stony Brook the early lead. The freshman has now scored in back-to-back games.
Stony Brook was able to maintain the 1-0 advantage until early on in the second half. Sacred Heart’s Marcello Castro tied the game up only a minute into the second half on a free kick goal from about 20 yards out.
The Stony Brook defense was outstanding for most of the game, including a stretch where they did not allow a shot on goal between the 27th and 81st minutes.
The defense, which was the catalyst in Stony Brook’s go-ahead goal, was able to force a turnover allowing freshman Alejandro Fritz to bring the ball up into the box and chip the ball in the direction of Fernandes. Fernandes was then able to secure the ball away from the nearby defender and fire a shot just inside the left post past goalkeeper Tucker Hackett.
Fernandes’ goal was his 27th career goal as a member of the Seawolves, which tied him for fourth all time with Tony Caputo on Stony Brook’s all-time scoring list.
Fernandes has also scored the winning goal for Stony Brook in each of the Seawolves’ last three games.
More Stony Brook history was made as goalkeeper Stefan Manz got his 24th career win today, putting him ahead of Phil Lesko for second place all-time on the career Stony Brook’s wins list. The senior made five saves in today’s game to get his fourth victory of the season.
Stony Brook now begins conference play, as their next seven games will be against teams that are in the America East. As of now Stony Brook is in first place in the conference, with a 6-2-1 record.
This Saturday, Stony Brook will wrap up their three game road trip at Albany to begin America East conference play, before coming home to go up against Boston University.
