Seeing wide open green grass in front of him in transition, senior defenseman Stephen Turnbull sprinted and made a booming pass intended for senior striker Jarred Dass that was blocked on a slide by a Fordham defender into his own goal. This proved to be the difference in a 1-0 win for the Stony Brook men’s soccer team.
In an evenly matched contest on Tuesday, Oct. 1, Fordham and Stony Brook took only six total shots on goal throughout the game, with only one of those taken in the first half. There were plenty of shots taken, with the Seawolves leading the shot total 14-8, but many could not slip through either team’s defense as the game went on. The winning goal came in the 50th minute after a long pass downfield started a dash for the goal by Turnbull, taking a shot to his left that would have been kicked in by Dass had Fordham senior defender Joergen Oland not mistakenly slid into the ball in the direction of the goal. Not many games are decided by luck, but this particular may have needed an inkling of it for Stony Brook to come out on top the way they did.
“I am very happy for the guys,” head coach Ryan Anatol said in a press release. “It was not easy after playing really well on Saturday and not getting the result and then having another quick turnaround, but they showed how resilient they are. Tonight we had some moments where we moved the ball and created good chances and also had moments where we had to dig in and fight. But they got the reward for their work. Now we turn our attention to UNH [University of New Hampshire] and look forward to going up there on Friday.”
Freshman goalkeeper Edmond Kaiser recorded his first career shutout and saved five shots, including one on goal in the closing minutes that could have equalized the score. This performance came after Kaiser conceded two starts to sophomore goalkeeper Yamil Montenegro earlier in the season. After Montenegro allowed five goals in two games, Kaiser returned to his post and has improved his performance, allowing seven goals in his last six outings compared to five in his first two starts.
With the win, Stony Brook improves to 2-0-1 all-time versus Fordham and 3-6-1 on the season. The lone goal was credited to Turnbull and marks his first goal of the season. The team will look to build off this victory when they head up to Durham, New Hampshire on Friday, Oct. 4 to face the No. 15 New Hampshire Wildcats in their second America East conference matchup of the season. Stony Brook currently trails the all-time series, 7-8-5.
