The Stony Brook men's soccer team had a 1-0 lead over UMBC, fell behind 3-1, then fought back valiantly before losing to the Retrievers 3-2 Wednesday night in the semifinals of the America East Championship in Baltimore.
The Seawolves' season comes to an end at 10-7-3, having recorded the program's fifth 10-win season and reaching at least the conference tournament semifinals for the second straight year. UMBC advances to the finals against New Hampshire.
Stony Brook was riding high early as sophomore Raphael Abreu scored in the ninth minute on a kick inside the left post. He put the Seawolves on top 1-0.
But UMBC, the America East's best offensive team, put up three goals in a span of nine minutes just before halftime. Levi Houapeu, the league's leading goal scorer, converted a free kick into the upper right corner. In the 44th minute, Houapeu scored again, and then Liam Paddock scored 1:23 later on a header off an Andrew Bulls free kick.
Stony Brook did not back down though as it fought back in the second half. The Seawolves peppered Dan Louisignau with shots early on and was the benefactor of his mistake. After Berian Gobeil Cruz took a shot that Louisignau saved, the UMBC keeper punched the ball into his own net for an own goal. Stony Brook's deficit was one, 3-2, with plenty of time left.
Stefan Manz made a few saves to keep Stony Brook in the match, and then the offense went to work. But Louisignau made up for his mistake late in the match. After Serigne Sylla's shot hit the crossbar in the 87th minute, Abreu followed up with a header, but Louisignau made the save to keep the score in UMBC's favor.
Despite the loss, Stony Brook has a bright future. The Seawolves will return their top three scorers, who will all be juniors in 2011, as well as both goalkeepers.
