After ending the season with a loss at home to UMBC, Stony Brook men’s soccer shut out Vermont, 2-0, at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday night in the first round of the America East Conference tournament.

With a season’s worth of hard work on the line, Seawolves head coach Cesar Markovic and his team did everything they could to ensure a victory. Markovic even ditched his regular suit and tie, and instead wore his red tracksuit, not taking any chances to jinx his team.

“We’ve been on a roll on the road recently,” Markovic said of the change of apparel. “So I said you know what, let me wear what I wear on the road. This is actually the first time in probably 15 years that I wore a tracksuit at a home game.”

Despite all that, the Seawolves (10-6-3, 4-2-2) started the game off with shaky defense, suffering from the inevitable nerves that come with a postseason game.

Defensive spacing proved to be an issue as 12 minutes into the first half, Vermont freshman midfielder Malick Camara was able to sneak through creating a breakaway opportunity for the Catamounts (7-8-4, 2-5-1). However Camara was denied a goal as SBU keeper Stefan Manz stood his ground and was able to bat the ball away. Manz had four saves on the day and his eighth shutout of the year.

“We haven’t played this system since last year,” said Coach Markovic. “We had some things to get used to, in terms of spacing. We had trouble the first 10 minutes or so but after that we got our footing underneath us and played well.”

Sophomore forward Raphael Abreu (New York, N.Y.) would be the first to come through for the Seawolves, scoring the first goal of the game and his sixth of the year, tying him for the team lead with fellow sophomore Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y.).

Abreu took advantage of a misplayed ball by Catamounts goalkeeper David Ramada off a cross kick and hammered it in to give the Seawolves an early 1-0 lead.

The early lead helped take pressure off the Stony Brook defense, which only allowed one shot on goal the rest of the game.

With eight minutes to go in the second half, sophomore forward Berian Gobeil Cruz (Montreal, Quebec) would put the exclamation point on the playoff win, taking a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Mehdi Belakehal (St.-Hubert, Quebec) and heading it past a leaping Ramada to put the game away. It was Cruz’s sixth goal of the season, also tying him for the team lead with Abreu and Fernandes.

The combo of Cruz and Abreu proved pivotal in the win, combining for eight shots, five of which were on goal.

“Tremendous, two forwards who score goals, that’s what you want,” Markovic said. “I was challenging the forwards to score goals tonight. Those were the two starters and they both scored.”

But the player of the game turned out to be someone who did not make much of an impact on the stat sheet, but made a huge impact on the game itself. Junior midfielder Wilber Bonilla (Brentwood, N.Y.) had his best game of the season, breaking down the Catamounts defense and creating multiple opportunities for his teammates.

“I thought Bonilla was unbelievable tonight,” Markovic said. “He didn’t get picked on any of the league teams, and I think he has a chip on his shoulder to be honest. He played that way tonight; he was almost unstoppable, controlling midfield at will.”

With the win, the #3 seeded Seawolves will travel to Baltimore to face the #2 UMBC Retrievers Wednesday night at 7 PM.

The Seawolves played the Retrievers just last week, losing a close game at home 1-0.

UMBC boasts the best offense in the America East led by their pro prospect Levi Houapeu. The senior captain was selected as the 2010 America East Striker of the Year finishing the season with a conference leading 12 goals.

“They are a very good team,” said Coach Markovic. “They have a very special player that’s going to be in the MLS next year. We walked off the field last week feeling that we played an even game here, and we feel good about going there, we’re looking forward to it.”

Game Notes:

• Fernandes left the game late in the first half after a blow to the head resulted in a cut to his eyebrow. Fernandes went in for stitches and came back out to finish the game.

• Abreu was visibly shaken on more than one occasion during the game after taking a few hard hits. He was also seen cramping up late in the game.

• When asked, Coach Markovic said his team suffered no lasting injuries that would carry over into Wednesday’s game, and that the whole team would be ready for UMBC.

• Markovic put forth a quicker lineup to take advantage of a slow Vermont team which is used to playing on grass and not turf.