The Stony Brook men's soccer team fell behind Hartford early and was unable to come back from a three-goal deficit, losing to the Hawks 3-1 Sunday at LaValle Stadium on Senior Day. Junior Leonardo Fernandes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored the lone goal for the Seawolves.
Stony Brook ends the regular season 8-6-3 overall and 4-2-1 in America East. The Seawolves have clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming America East Championship and will host either No. 3 Vermont or No. 6 Albany in the semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
"We started out slow tonight and dug ourselves a hole," head coach Ryan Anatol said. "We didn't do a good job of winning the first ball and the second ball. We created a lot of chances, but could not finish them."
Stony Brook outshot Hartford 22-14 and had nine shots on goal to Hartford's six, but it was the Hawks who found the back of the net. David Bernhardsson got the Hawks on the board with a header off a Mathias Axelsson cross in the 27th minute.
With the first half near an end, Hartford had a corner kick, and Connor Yeaney converted Bernhardsson's corner when he came out of a scrum with the ball and kicked it into the net just one yard away. Hartford went into halftime up 2-0.
In the 56th minute, the Hawks seemingly put the game out of reach when Atobra Ampadu chipped the ball over Seawolves goalkeeper Stefan Manz (Bronx, N.Y.) after getting the ball when a hard kick went to Bernhardsson, and he deflected it to a wide open Ampadu.
Just three minutes later, the Seawolves were awarded a free kick, and Fernandes converted from 23 yards out, finding the right corner of the net well away from a diving Matt McElroy.
The Seawolves had plenty of chances to score, but their kicks seemingly went high of the net. McElroy, who came in to relieve Luke Citriniti after an injury, made a few diving saves - he had eight on the night - to keep Stony Brook off the scoreboard.
Prior to the match, Stony Brook honored three seniors for their outstanding service, including captain Kyle McTurk (Hauppauge, N.Y.), Serigne Sylla (Dakar, Senegal), Mame Samb (Dakar, Senegal) and Steven Medwinter (St. Albans, N.Y.).
Stony Brook will now have 10 days to prepare for its America East Championship semifinals match, which will take place on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the match are $8 for adults and $5 for youths. For more information on tickets, call 631-632-WOLF.
