After losing its first conference match of the season against Vermont last Saturday, the Stony Brook men’s soccer team came out and shut out No. 25 New Hampshire, 2-0, on Saturday night at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
Junior midfielder Thibault Duval scored both goals in the first half for the Seawolves, while junior defender Danny Espinoza assisted on both goals.
“It was important to get our first conference win today,” Duval said. “After tying Sacred Heart and losing to Vermont, we wanted to win this game. Now we look to win our next game.”
Duval scored his first goal in the 19th minute of the game. The Belgian placed the ball right into the bottom-left corner of the net after Espinoza carried the ball up the field and played a through ball with his left foot.
Two minutes later, in the 21st minute, Duval was celebrating again.
This time, Espinoza received the throw-in off his chest, ran down the line and beat three defenders in the process. He finally crossed the ball into the box and Duval hammered the ball home off the volley to give the Seawolves a 2-0 lead.
“I thought our effort was really good,” Stony Brook head coach Ryan Anatol said. “We defended really well. We were organized, and that’s a strength of ours.”
Defended well they did. The style of play for the Wildcats consisted of passing and moving the ball around the field, then attacking when the defense was tired. Yet the Seawolves held up strong.
They gave up 14 shots to the Wildshots, while only creating six for themselves. They gave 10 corners and only took three. With the Wildcats attacking so often and so much, the Seawolves stood their ground and let nothing past them.
“We know if we are going to be successful, we need to defend well,” Anatol said about the team’s defense. “If we defend well, we know we are good enough in the attack that we are going to create chances and score goals. It’s not just our goalkeeper and our back four, it’s the entire team who defends well. We are hungry for shutouts and wins.”
Aside from winning the game, Stony Brook also wrote a little piece of history. This is the first time the Stony Brook men’s soccer team has beaten a nationally ranked opponent at home since they won 1-0 against No. 19 Vermont back in 2005.
With his two goals, Duval moved to a tie for second with senior forward Eduardo Valle, who has scored four goals this season. Junior forward Vince Erdei still leads the team with five goals. After scoring four goals in his last three games, he was unable to find the back of the net tonight.
The Seawolves will have a few days of rest before hitting the road again. This time, they will face the Hartford Hawks on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
