After a hard fought battle in the pouring rain on Thursday evening at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook Women’s Soccer’s season came down to penalty kicks. But the team was unable to match Vermont and fell, 3-1, in penalty kicks. The Seawolves have officially been eliminated from the America East Championship.
“I thought both teams played really well defensively and there wasn’t many chances to make a play for either team,” head coach Brendan Faherty said. “When it comes to penalty kicks, it is kind of a coin toss. They made theirs and we missed ours.”
Senior defender Meg James made Vermont’s first penalty kick for Vermont while sophomore defender Casey Garfinkel connected on the team’s second kick to put them up 2-0. Senior midfielder Priscilla Wiggins was able to get the Seawolves on the board to make it 2-1, until senior midfielder Caitie Green fired the game-winning penalty kick and her team stormed the field in celebration.
Stony Brook senior forward Amy Thompson, the team’s second-leading goal scorer, was not in the starting lineup due to a knee injury. But she inspired many by taking off her rain gear and running on the field in the 70th minute to help her team make a push for a win. However, the Seawolves were unable to score until the penalty shootout.
“We weren’t able to slide a ball in to give one of our players a one-on-one with [Vermont’s] goalkeeper,” Faherty said. “They were very compact and their left center back [Meg James] played great and was one of the better players on the field for both teams.”
Faherty’s first season as head coach was a success seeing as he was awarded America East Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year, the first by a first-year coach. After starting the year 0-3-1, the team finished the regular season with six wins in its last seven regular season games to clinch its first playoff berth since 2013.
“I was very fortunate, our staff was very fortunate, to have a group that was super motivated and super coachable,” Faherty said. “If we can get that every year I’d be pretty happy.”
