Skyler Gilbert contributed to this story.
It is very rare that a team has reason to celebrate after a 5-1 loss. That was the case, however, for the Stony Brook men’s soccer team on Saturday night.
The Seawolves fell 5-1 to Binghamton on the road but were still able to secure a playoff spot despite the loss.
A UMass-Lowell victory earlier in the day over New Hampshire allowed the Seawolves to clinch a spot in this weekend’s America East tournament.
The Seawolves were in a neck-and-neck affair in the first half, allowing a 12th minute goal, but responded 30 minutes later at the heel of junior Alejandro Fritz, who chipped it over the Binghamton goalkeeper off a cross from freshman Danny Espinoza.
The 1-1 tie at the half would not last, as the Bearcats would drive home a whopping four goals in the second half.
A minute into the second, Binghamton’s Logan Roberts drilled a header to give the Bearcats the advantage.
Stony Brook had until the 81st minute to score the equalizer, but could not hit its mark.
Binghamton’s lead was then extended to 3-1, before an own goal by the Seawolves pushed the gap to 4-1.
Finally, in the 88th minute, Binghamton added insult to injury with a fifth goal.
The Seawolves only had five shots on goal to Binghamton’s ten.
Two of SBU’s shots on goal came from Fernando Wadskier.
The redshirt freshman had a total of four shots in the match.
The poor goalkeeping is likely due to Tom McMahon sitting out the contest, giving the goalkeeping duties to sophomore Jason Orban.
The five allowed goals were a season high for Stony Brook, after never allowing more than three goals in 16 games.
Saturday’s defeat came after the Seawolves also fell on Tuesday night.
Stony Brook lost by the score of 2-0 to the Harvard Crimson in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard junior defenseman Philip Fleischman was an unexpected offensive lightning rod
in the game.
He scored both goals for the Crimson, his second and third goals of the season.
The first goal came in the 42nd minute and was assisted by Nate Devine on a one-timer amidst clutter right in front of the net.
The second goal was scored in the 65th minute. Fleischman tapped in a long entry pass from Jake Freeman that doubled the Seawolves deficit.
The Seawolves were outplayed badly in the match, as evidenced by the shot totals.
Harvard, whose record advanced to 9-4-1 with the win, outshot Stony Brook 15-7
in the match.
Stony Brook was held without a single corner kick in the match.
Harvard attempting eight corner shots in the contest.
The Seawolves had solid defense on the corners, preventing the Crimson from tallying on any of their corner kick opportunities.
Harvard committed thirteen fouls in the match, compared to two fouls for Stony Brook.
The discrepancy in fouls gave the Seawolves free kick opportunities.
Junior Martin Giordano had a free kick saved in the first half, while freshman Thibault Duval and junior Jevaughn Vance missed the net off of second half free kick opportunities.
Giordano was the only Seawolves player with more than one shot attempt. He had two.
Both shots were on goal and needed to be saved by Harvard goalkeeper Joe Festa.
The Seawolves play their next game Saturday at Binghamton before coming home to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Nov. 5 for their season finale against the UMBC Retrievers.
SBU now has an overall record of 4-12-1 on the season, after losing its second
straight contest.
Stony Brook has faired much better in America East play, winning games against conference opponents New Hampshire and Albany this season.
The Seawolves now move on to face UMBC at home on Wednesday night in what will be their regular season finale.
Before the match, the team will honor Keith McKenna, Jevaughn Vance and Mario Mesen, who will be playing their last game in front of the LaValle Stadium crowd.
On Saturday the Seawolves will participate in a quarterfinals matchup in the America East Championships tournament.
