The Stony Brook women’s soccer team put on a clinic on Thursday night, routing the UMBC Retrievers by a score of 4-0 on Oct. 3. The Seawolves’ performance saw a historic run of three consecutive goals scored in only 64 seconds. With the win, the Seawolves improve to 8-4 on the season with a 2-0 league record.

The first half saw limited action for both sides, as the two teams combined for six total shots with the only two on goal coming from the Seawolves. Neither were converted, as both of Stony Brook’s shots were saved by UMBC. The Seawolves were aggressive from the start with the ball though, as they held possession for 54% of the first half to the Retrievers’ 46%. Their aggressiveness also included eight fouls to UMBC’s three. 

Coming out of halftime, the Seawolves came alive. From four shots with two on goal in the first half, Stony Brook exploded with 19 shots and 13 on goal in the second. The highlight of the Seawolves’ night was their three goals in only 64 seconds. The scoring was initiated by a penalty kick from junior forward Alyssa Francese in the 58^th minute for her seventh goal on the season and her fifth game-winning goal, a statistic that Francese continues to lead the entire NCAA in.

The Seawolves saw junior forward Rachel Florenz score her third goal on the season just 27 seconds later off an assist from junior midfielder Chelsie DePonte, who would cap off the historic run with her own third goal 37 seconds after that. Finally, in the 68^th minute, Francese sent another ball into the net for her eighth goal of the season and her 26^th all-time, moving her into fifth place on the Stony Brook career goals scored leaderboard in the Division I era.

“I thought we had a pretty good game plan for the game,” head coach Tobias Bischof said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “To be honest, I just reminded [the girls] about our game plan and they followed it pretty well in the second half.” 

Francese agreed with her coach. “I thought we came out in the second half really strong the way that we intended to play the entire game,” Francese said. “In the first half, we got some looks. We did things right, but not well enough. Then, in the second half, we were able to create more chances and capitalize.”

The Seawolves hit the road facing the Binghamton Bearcats on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. before returning home to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium to face the UMass Lowell River Hawks a week later. 

“We’ll quickly move towards Sunday’s game,” Francese said. “We’ll look to keep up our momentum, our energy and show up again to play a good team.”