Oct. 4, 2001

The Matchup: Stony Brook (3-2-1 overall, 0-1 America East) continues America East play on the road this weekend with matches at New Hampshire on Friday, Oct. 5, and Maine on Sunday, Oct. 7. The Seawolves look to rebound from their worst loss in four years, falling 6-0 to Albany in the conference opener on Tuesday. New Hampshire (3-3-1 overall, 1-0 America East) and Maine (1-5 overall, 0-1 America East) went head-to-head on Tuesday with UNH coming away with a 2-1 victory.

Series History: The Seawolves have never played New Hampshire or Maine.

Last Time Out: Albany (4-3, 1-0 America East) scored 2:20 into the second half and never looked back, coasting to a 6-0 win in the America East Conference opener for Stony Brook on Tuesday afternoon at University Field.

After a physical and scoreless first half, Albany's Lorenzo Henry fought off the Stony Brook defense to open the scoring in the 48th minute with the first of six second-half goals. Ashtian Holmes tallied just five minutes later for a 2-0 edge.

The Seawolves were dealt another blow when forward Jude Osei Bonsu was red carded in the 57th minute. Playing a man down, the Seawolves gave up two more goals in the next 10 minutes, both by Jarvin Skeete. Sophomore Matt Thibdeau went in for Dan Ferrin in the goal with 21 minutes left, and two minutes later Skeete added a third goal to his total. Saeed Jackson closed out the scoring when he took the ball from a SBU defender and slipped it past Thibdeau with just over four minutes left.

The loss marked the most lopsided defeat for the Seawolves since an 8-0 setback to Southern Connecticut when Stony Brook competed at the Division II level. It was also their second straight shutout.

Scouting New Hampshire and Maine: New Hampshire was shut out its first two games of the season but has gone 3-1-1 since. The Wildcats beat Maine 2-1 on Tuesday behind Josh Hareld's gamewinner. Hareld, a sophomore midfielder, leads UNH with four goals and two assists on the year. Freshman forward Logan Lee has three goals to his credit. Goalkeeper Shaun O'Neil has played just over 631 minutes in the goal, recording a goals-against average of 1.99 and making 35 saves. Mike Vignola has seen 75 minutes of action, giving up two goals and making seven saves.

The Black Bears are on a three-game losing streak, falling to UMass and Harvard by identical scores of 7-0 before Tuesday's loss to New Hampshire. Maine has scored just three times in six games with two of those goals coming in a 2-0 victory over Sacred Heart on Sept. 9. The Bears, who have just 34 total shots compared to 104 for their opponents, are led by sophomore midfielder Greg Bajek's two goals. Keeper Mat Cosgriff has logged 524:28, giving up 21 goals for an average of 3.60. He has made 23 saves.

Second Half Struggles: In their last two games, the Seawolves have given up nine goals to lose 3-0 to Hartwick and 6-0 to Albany. What's more interesting is that all nine goals have come in the second half of play.

Against Hartwick, the Seawolves saw a 0-0 halftime score turn into a 3-0 defeat despite fairly even play between the teams. Stony Brook goalkeeper Dan Ferrin made six first-half saves on 11 shots to keep HC at bay, but the Hawks netted a penalty kick in the 70th minute to take the lead. Hartwick scored again 13 minutes later and added a last-second goal for the 3-0 final.

In the Albany match, Ferrin made four total saves on eight shots in 69 minutes, with most of the Great Danes' six tallies coming off defensive miscues or breakaways. The Great Danes played a man up for the final 33:00, taking advantage of the mismatch to score their final four goals.

Stony Brook has given up 13 goals in six games compared to just 16 goals all of last season. The six goals against Albany were the most by an opponent since the Seawolves fell 6-4 to Northeastern in the program's first year at the Division I level in 1999.

News and Notes: The Seawolves have not scored since Jude Osei Bonsu headed in the gamewinning goal in overtime against Sacred Heart on Sept. 26 . . . senior back Johan Thomsson, who sat out on Tuesday with an injury, will be back in the lineup this weekend.