Stony Brook Men’s Soccer hit the road for the first time this season to take down its cross-island rival Hofstra Pride. Each team found the back of the net once, but two overtime periods were not enough, and the Seawolves and Pride ended the game with a 1-1 tie at Hofstra Soccer Stadium on Saturday night.
Both teams were in a scoreless deadlock heading into halftime, but it only took four minutes into the second half for someone to break the score open.
The Pride’s sophomore forward Luke Brown broke his team’s scoring drought that lasted 426 minutes, over the course of several games, when the team scored in the seventh minute of their season opener against Penn State on Aug. 25. He slid the ball past Seawolf redshirt senior goalkeeper Tom McMahon early into the second half after a pass was received by senior forward Danny Elliott, who found Brown with the one touch pass. Brown finished the ball and put Hofstra up 1-0 in the 49th minute .
Stony Brook was able to answer in the form of a penalty kick when senior forward Vince Erdei took the ball down into the box and he was fouled, forcing a penalty kick. Erdei hammered the ball past Hofstra’s junior goalkeeper Alex Aston, hitting the right side netting for the equalizer in the 71st minute. It was Erdei’s third goal of the season and the 17th of his career.
The Seawolves had two key defensive stops in the second half and second overtime period. McMahon made a diving save off a Pride corner kick to keep the game tied with just under three minutes left in the second half. McMahon tied his season high with eight saves on the night.
In the second overtime period, a Hofstra free kick was heading right towards the back of the net with less than 20 seconds left in the game. Senior defender Danny Espinoza was able to get a foot on the ball and clear the ball out of the box to save the game for Stony Brook.
The Seawolves were aggressive on offense, getting off 16 shots in the game, which is their second highest total this season. The team took 23 shots in a win over Canisius on Aug. 25. However, it was the Pride who was the more dominant of the two teams on the offensive end. They outshot the Seawolves 20-16, including a 9-3 difference in shots on goal.
Stony Brook’s record now sits at 3-1-1 on the season, while Hofstra sits at 1-2-2. Stony Brook will return to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium again when they take on New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m..
