Nov. 10, 2005

by BigAppleSoccer.com Editor Michael Lewis - For 12 perplexing and confounding games, Stony Brook senior forward Chris Megaloudis endured the longest scoring slump of his career.

He shoot wide left, wide right, over the crossbar, right at the goalkeeper and even hit the woodwork.

Finally, Megaloudis found the back of the net, and it couldn't happen at a better time for Stony Brook on Wednesday night.

Megaloudis scored seven minutes into extratime to lift Stony Brook to a 2-1 semifinal victory over Albany to bring the Seawolves a game closer to the America East championship and its first NCAA Division I tournament berth.

The Seawolves (12-4-3) will play Binghamton University (12-4-3), which registered a 4-1 win over University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the championship match at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday night.

Binghamton has been a thorn in Stony Brook's side the last two seasons, beating the Seawolves twice -- 4-0 in 2004 and 1-0 this year, the team's only conference loss this season.

"We get our old nemesis -- Binghamton," Stony Brook coach Cesar Markovic said. "And we're going to put it to rest on Saturday and win a championship."

Markovic called the victory "an unbelievable feeling. Great crowd. It's just an emotional night. We got it done."

Megaloudis also got it done before a crowd of 523 on Wednesday night.

"It was tough," he said. "I tried to stay positive. I just tried to help my teammates because they were picking it up for me.

"We're going through a lot. I'm happy we're here in the finals where we belong."

Megaloudis also might have been happy that Markovic stayed with him during his darkest hours.

After an eight-goal junior season, big things were expected of Megaloudis this season. He connected for five goals in his first four matches, including a four-goal performance in a 5-2 triumph over Philadelphia University on Sept. 11. Then the well ran dry.

"It was a loss of confidence," he said. "When you lose your confidence, it's hard to gain it back. You need that goal. I was waiting and waiting and waiting. I don't think it came at a better time."

But the Queens, N.Y. native continued to plug away, as 21 goals were tallied by teammates between Megaloudis' scores. In fact, Megaloudis had no goals and one assist in six conference matches.

"A goal-scoring drought comes down to one simple thing," Markovic said. "Chris is one of the most dangerous forwards out there and everybody knows it. Not only is he a player who has been recognized nationally. The opposition knows that a player they need to shut down. Everyone's focus has been shutting down Megaloudis. Chris has been contributing in a lot of other ways. He has a lot of assists. He's a leader on the team. He makes people mark him, leaving other people open. There's a whole bunch of other things that he can do for us.

"Of course, we want him to score goals.

Which Megaloudis did in extratime. Tamer Mohammed sent in a corner kick from the left side. Megaloudis beat goalkeeper Steward Ceus from six yards into the lower right corner.

"I saw Tamer get the ball wide on the left," Megaloudis said. "I knew that if I made that run where the coach always tells me to make it right in front of the box, there's always a chance. I'm very dangerous there. Tamer made a great ball. Without that great ball there would be no goal."

Stony Brook struck first on Adam Ciklic's third goal of the season in the 63rd minute. Sophomore midfielder Michael Palacio started the sequence with a 30-yard free kick on the left side. He sent a low pass to the racing Douglas Narvaez. Narvaez took the ball just about to the end line before slipping a short pass to Ciklic, who beat Ceus.

Albany (6-9-4) equalized in the 77th minute on Yan Gbolo's fifth goal of the season from five yards off a right-wing cross from Stephan Hall past goalkeeper John Moschella.

"I saw that my defender wasn't there," Moschella said. "I got to make a decision whether to go or to stay. He's right at the six and it's pretty easy to score. I decided to come out as fast as I could. He beat him to the ball. It hit me in the chest and it just trickled in. I was very unlucky."

The Seawolves wasted a splendid scoring opportunity in the 29th minute when Ceus stopped Rob Fucci's penalty kick.

Gbolo was called for a penalty by referee Lou Labbadia after taking down Mohammed in the top left corner of the area. Fucci took a stutter-step as he went up to take the kick and placed a shot that Ceus dived to his left to knock away.

"Albany, to their credit, is very pesky, very tough," Markovic said. "They hung in there, but numbers in their and made it very difficult for us to break through."

Last weekend, Newsday reported that an unnamed Stony Brook player had been suspended for two games because of racial slurs he made to a University of Vermont player last month, grabbing some big headlines.

Asked whether that was a distraction, Markovic replied: "We're all about showing up and what's between the lines and playing the game."

Michael Lewis can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. He will only answer e-mails and letters that are signed or have names.