In the team’s regular season finale, Stony Brook Men’s Soccer sought to host its first home America East playoff game since 2012. All head coach Ryan Anatol’s team had to do was beat or draw UMBC.
But luck was on the Seawolves’ side, as other results in the conference allowed Stony Brook to still clinch the fourth overall seed in the America East Men’s Soccer Championship despite a 3-0 loss against the Retrievers at Retriever Soccer Park Wednesday evening.
Sophomore midfielder Gregg Hauck scored what would turn out to be the game-winner for UMBC in the first half, while freshman midfielder Patrick Jean-Gilles scored two second-half goals for the Retrievers to put the game out of reach.
Stony Brook came out aggressively within the first 10 minutes of the game, controlling most of the play early on. UMBC looked to be on the back foot, unable to get the ball out of its half. It looked as if Stony Brook was going to control play all night.
But that was not the case.
Everything changed 17 minutes in when Hauck scored off of a header after a beautiful long throw from freshman defender Kyle Saunderson. It was Hauck’s fourth goal of the season. After this goal, the Seawolves’ level dropped and the Retrievers took over.
UMBC controlled affairs the rest of the first half, and the same occurred in the second half. Jean-Gilles scored just minutes in after getting the ball in the box, using skill to get past the defender and slotting the ball far post past senior goalkeeper Jason Orban.
The Retrievers continued their strong play for the rest of the second half, and the Seawolves struggled to find their game. Jean-Gilles tallied one more goal for UMBC in the 78th minute, as he scored again off of a Stony Brook turnover and cracked a shot from just inside the penalty area to give his team a 3-0 lead.
The Seawolves offense did not play as well as they did in their last few games. In three consecutive wins, Stony Brook scored six goals and only gave up one. On Wednesday night, the team was unable to generate any goals while getting outshot 18-8 by UMBC.
However, the Seawolves were still able to clinch the fourth seed in the playoffs, and have their quarterfinal playoff game against Binghamton at home, in Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves recently played Binghamton at home and won dramatically, 2-1 in overtime. This game will be on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.. The winner of that game will go on to play No. 1 seed Albany at Albany on Nov. 11, also at 7 p.m..
