The Stony Brook women’s soccer team hadn’t reigned victorious over the Albany Great Danes in more than four years, but all recent history was pushed aside as the Seawolves took control of the match in the second half and defeated their upstate rivals 3-1 at home on Thursday, Oct. 17 to improve to 10-5 overall and move back into first place in the America East with a 4-1 conference record, tied with Hartford.

“UAlbany was a very well-coached team and they are a handful offensively,” head coach Tobias Bischof said in a press release. “We thought we had a good gameplan and we did a good job of following it, taking advantage of the chances we had. We work on set pieces a lot in practice so it was nice to see us take advantage tonight.”

Albany entered the match in first place with a 3-0-1 conference record and 10 points, while Stony Brook came in at 3-1 with 9 points. It was the Great Danes who struck first in the 16^th minute, with freshman forward Leah Pais making junior goalkeeper Sofia Manner miss and sliding the ball into the net for the 1-0 lead, assisted by redshirt-junior midfielder Meghan Cavanaugh. However, the Seawolves quickly countered on a 40-yard free kick in the 20^th minute when freshman midfielder Paula Petri shot the ball past a sea of Albany defenders, barely avoiding their contact to tie the match at one. This goal was the first of Petri’s career.

The pace of play picked up in the second half, with both Stony Brook and Albany recording four more shots as a team than they did in the first half. In the 59^th minute, freshman forward Catharina von Drigalski delivered a corner kick that was taken by junior midfielder Chelsie DePonte and scored on a header to put Stony Brook up 2-1. It was a lead that the Seawolves would not relinquish as junior forward Fanny Götesson extended the lead in the 85^th minute with her fourth goal of the season off an assist from junior forward Rachel Florenz. 

While the Great Danes outshot the Seawolves 18-12, the Seawolves’ nine shots on goal outpaced the Great Danes’ seven. Manner recorded six saves against just the one goal allowed, improving her save percentage to .785 and lowering her goals allowed per game to 1.11.

With the win, Stony Brook returned to the top of the America East standings, sharing a 4-1 conference record and 12 points with Hartford, who defeated Binghamton 1-0 on Thursday. The Seawolves look to maintain their place in first when they travel to Burlington, Vermont to face the Vermont Catamounts on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.