Nov. 22, 2005
Stony Brook (13-4-4) will play at Connecticut (15-3-1) in the second round of the N.C.A.A. Division I men's tournament today, only two years after finishing 4-13-1.
"I'm not into long-term plans, and as soon as I came here, I was looking to win the conference championship," Cesar Markovic, in his second year as Stony Brook's coach, said in a telephone interview.
Markovic is a bit of a turnaround artist. In his first two seasons at St. Peter's in Jersey City, the Peacocks had a 7-29-1 record. In his last two seasons, the team was 28-11-5 and advanced to the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament in 2003.
Eight of his players followed Markovic to Long Island, and this year the Stony Brook Seawolves defeated Binghamton (on penalty kicks) for the America East title, then defeated Yale in overtime last Friday in a first-round game. This is Stony Brook's first appearance in the N.C.A.A. tournament.
"We were an incredibly tight group at St. Peter's, and some of the players wanted to come with me," Markovic said. "I didn't want to close the door on them.
"Here we have a great facility and play a style of soccer that definitely is not what you usually see in college. There is complete creative freedom for the players offensively. I put the talent on the field and put them in a situation where they can play attractive soccer so they can enjoy the game."
