Seawolves advance to America East title game for first time since 2005
Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook's men's soccer team will be playing for an America East title after defeating Hartford, 3-2, in penalty kicks on Wednesday evening at LaValle Stadium. Senior Oscar Leis (Ozone Park, N.Y.) scored the Seawolves' third goal of the shootout and redshirt freshman Anthony Rogic (Boonton, N.J.) made two saves including Vernon Perinchief's final attempt for Hartford. Stretching its unbeaten streak to six games, #2 Stony Brook is 5-9-4 and will play #5 UMBC for the Championship at 5 pm on Sunday. Hartford is 8-8-2.
After 110 minutes of scoreless play, senior Collin Geoghegan (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and Hartford's Carlos Villa connected on their attempts, as did freshman Berian Gobeil (Montreal, Quebec) and Bojan Delibasic. Hawks keeper Nenad Cudic saved sophomore Serigne Sylla's (New York, N.Y.) attempt, setting up a must-save from Rogic, and he was up to the task, matching Cudic's save to keep the shootout at 2-2.
Leis, who did not play in regulation or overtime, scored to give the Seawolves the edge. Sam Groves came on to take Hartford's attempt, but his shot hit the left post and bounded away. Freshman Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y.) took Stony Brook's fifth and final attempt, but his shot was saved, giving Hartford one last chance. But Rogic, who posted a 0.60 during conference play, stoned Perinchief to give the Seawolves their first appearance in the finals since winning it in 2005.
Rogic made six saves in the game, including a point-blank stop on Hartford's Cedomir Tomcic in double overtime. Cudic finished with seven saves.
In the regular season meeting against the Retrievers, they topped the Seawolves, 2-0. Stony Brook is 4-2 against UMBC under head coach Cesar Markovic and has never lost to the Retrievers in three previous matches at home.
