To kick off homecoming weekend, Stony Brook men’s soccer hosted America East and SUNY rival University at Albany. Coming into Friday night’s matchup, the Seawolves were 4-4 coming off a challenging non-conference schedule that included a trip to Philadelphia where they suffered two loses to Villanova and Drexel.

Friday marked the beginning of America East play for the Seawolves. In the preseason coaches’ poll, the Seawolves were projected to finish second in the conference.

Although entering the game with just one win in nine games, Stony Brook Head Coach Ryan Anatol knew Albany would play tough.

“They’ve played a lot of close games so their record doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of their team. They just played an undefeated Dartmouth and lost by 1 so we knew we had our work cut out for us,” Coach Anatol said.

Throughout the majority of the opening ninety minutes, the Seawolves controlled the ball. However, it was a tale of missed opportunities as Stony Brook was unable to convert on their first ten shots.

“Although we weren’t scoring, I liked the looks we were getting on the offensive end. If you keep putting yourself in position to score sooner or later you will,” Coach Anatol said.

Despite an offensive surge by Albany in the closing minutes of regulation, the game was sent into overtime with a score of 0-0. In the 98th minute, Sophomore Martin Giordano connected with a cross from Mario Mesen, sending the ball out of the reach of the Albany goalie into the top shelf.

The crowd of over 1,000 at Kenneth P LaValle Stadium erupted and players rushed to tackle Giordano. Stony Brook soccer alumni were also in attendance and greeted the players on the field after the game.

“I’m really pleased with the result obviously….They may have had some extra motivation today with it being homecoming weekend and playing in front of our home crowd. Even though there are a lot of young players were counting on to succeed I have high expectations for us this year,” Coach Anatol said.

Stony Brook improved to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The also improved their record to 6-0-2 against Albany in their last eight games.

On Tuesday, the Seawolves will travel to Morgantown to play the Mountaineers of West Virginia.