Oct. 9, 2007

Albany, N.Y. - After overcoming two lightning delays and a 15-point third quarter deficit, Stony Brook fell in the last seconds at Albany when the Danes booted a field goal with nine seconds left to take a 24-23 football win over the Seawolves. Sophomore Conte Cuttino (Uniondale, N.Y.) ran for a career-high 204 yards for Stony Brook.

Albany (2-3) put the first points of the day up early, taking the opening kickoff and driving 65 yards to take the early lead on a one-yard sneak from quarterback Vinny Esposito less than five minutes into the contest.

It looked as if Stony Brook's first drive would not go anywhere after the first two plays lost yardage, forcing the Seawolves into a 3rd and long. But Cuttino's 63-yard run, the longest of his career, took the ball all the way to the UA 21-yard line. The drive stalled there, however, and Stony Brook (3-3) had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by junior Luke Gaddis (East Patchouge, N.Y.).

Stony Brook was again driving late in the first quarter but a Cuttino fumble gave the Danes the ball at the SBU 29. At that point a thunderstorm forced a 61-minute lightning delay before UA could get off its first play. After the delay Albany turned the Seawolf miscue into points, getting an 18-yard TD run from tailback David McCarthy with two seconds left in the quarter.

Thanks to a key fourth-down completion from senior Josh Dudash (Beachwood, N.J.) to junior Lynell Suggs (Bronx, N.Y.) that kept the drive alive, Stony Brook was able to come back on its next possession and pick up another Gaddis field goal to cut the lead down to 14-6. After that neither team could generate another scoring drive in the half, and as the first 30 minutes ended in another driving rain storm it remained an eight-point Albany lead.

The halftime rain resulted in another delay, this one a 37-minute wait, before the second half could start. When it did Albany started as it had in the first half, getting a 46-yard scoring scamper from McCarthy to cap off its first possession of the half to take a 21-6 lead.

Stony Brook wasted no time answering, when Dudash hooked up with Suggs down the left sideline on its second play on its next drive, a play that wound up in the end zone as a 69-yard TD play that cut the Dane's lead to eight. The Seawolves then came all the way back on its next drive, going 86 yards in 14 plays. Dudash hit junior Dwayne Eley (Bowie, Md.) on the right side, but as he was going in for the score he was hit and fumbled at the two. Suggs was there, however, scooping up the lose ball in the end zone for the score. Dudash then hit Suggs for the two-point conversion to tie the score at 21-all with 2:10 left in the third.

After Stony Brook stopped Albany, the snap on the Dane's punt attempt was high and the ball eventually went out of the back of the end zone for a safety that put SBU on top for the first time in the game with 11:36 left to play.

The rest of the quarter remained scoreless until the final drive of the game. Albany got the ball back with 3:29 left on its own 20. The Danes moved the ball out to midfield where, on a second down play, Esposito's pass attempt went straight into senior Adam Cooper's arms. Unfortunately he could not hang on for the interception and the Albany drive stayed alive. The Danes got it down near the Stony Brook goal line, but the Seawolf defense stopped three straight running attempts and Albany lined up for a 17-yard field goal attempt. Jason Fralicker's attempt was good, giving the Danes their margin of victory.

"The game is a four quarter game and we played it at times and didn't play it at times," said head coach Chuck Priore. "We shot ourselves in the foot way too many times. Until we get better at the fundamentals of the game, that will be a problem."