Trailing the Delaware Women’s Soccer team 1-0 in the 89th minute, Stony Brook was unphased.
Junior midfielder Christen Cahill powered her team’s attack downfield, scoring off a rebound to tie the game and forcing a golden goal. The team’s momentum remained decisively in its favor, setting up an aggressive attack on the golden goal that ended with a game-winning goal from senior midfielder Amy Thompson.
“Julie played a great ball across to Amy for the great one-time finish.” head coach Brendan Faherty said. “It’s kind of what you dream of, to be honest.”
Stony Brook’s late-game heroics catapulted the team to a 2-1 golden goal victory over Delaware at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday night.
Thompson’s goal was set up by sophomore forward Julie Johnstonbaugh during a fast break. With Delaware’s goalkeeper fixated on her, Johnstonbaugh fired a precision pass to Thompson, setting her teammate up with a wide open net to seal the deal.
“I was on the floor, tripped over the ball kind of, and it was just an amazing moment,” Thompson said. “We’ve always been strong, we’ve always been good, but luck just hasn’t been on our side. I think today it was on our side.”
Thompson would have never gotten the opportunity without the clutch play from Cahill in the final minute of regulation. After an inbound pass ricocheted off a Delaware defender, she used her space to get out ahead and tie the game.
“I knew we had to score off this [chance],” Cahill said. “There was left than a minute left, our pressure was good all game, and that was the chance to do it.”
The Seawolves attack displayed clear dominance throughout the game, constantly harassing the opponent’s back three. It was evident that Stony Brook came out of halftime with a newfound aggression. After already outshooting Delaware, 8-5, in the first half, Stony Brook unloaded for 18 additional shots compared to Delaware’s six shots.
Senior forward Natalie Zelenky scored the Fightin’ Blue Hens’ only goal in the game in the 69th minute.
Both Cahill and senior forward Lindsay Hutchinson collected five shots. While Cahill was able to connect on one of her attempts, Hutchinson was unable to do so. However, Hutchinson has really broken through offensively, with six shots on goal in her last three games. The defeat of Delaware is the team’s first home win of the season.
“It’s hard for the group because we have played pretty well this year, but the ball hasn’t bounced our way,” Faherty said. “To stay with it, and get the game tying goal in the 89th minute says a lot about them as people. That’s very important to me.”
Stony Brook will look transfer its momentum into Sunday’s game against Wagner at LaValle Stadium at 1 p.m.
