Sept. 24, 2010
Box Score
Stony Brook, N.Y. -
The Stony Brook men's soccer team had a 1-0 lead late in its match with No. 20/21 Harvard, but a Crimson goal in the 90th minute, followed by 20 minutes of scoreless overtime, produced a 1-1 draw Friday night at LaValle Stadium. Berian Gobeil Cruz scored Stony Brook's lone goal.
The tie extends Stony Brook's unbeaten streak to four matches, as the Seawolves held their own with a Harvard club that was recently as high as No. 6 in the NSCAA/hendrickcars.com National Rankings. Stony Brook's record stands at 4-4-1, and Harvard is now 2-1-3.
The teams played a scoreless first half, but Stony Brook had a few chances. In the 18th minute, a free kick by Kyle Schlesinger went to Mame Samb, who hit a perfect header right towards the net, but Crimson keeper Brett Conrad, making his first appearance of the seaon, was right there with the save. Later in the first half, a Harvard foul by Richard Smith just outside the box led to a direct kick by Mihailo Pavlisin, who rocketed the ball just high of the net.
Harvard had just two shots in the first half, none on goal, as the Seawolves controlled the tempo for much of time.
In the second half, Stony Brook pressured early, and it paid off as Gobeil Cruz got into a one-on-one tangle with Conrad, and the keeper tripped Gobeil Cruz up in the box, leading to a penalty kick. Gobeil Cruz put it past the keeper's right side for a goal, his third of the season. The 49th minute score made it 1-0 Stony Brook.
The Seawolves kept Harvard at bay until the match's final two minutes of regulation when the Crimson began finding opportunities at the net. It ended with a deflected ball landing at Brian Rogers' feet about 15 yards out from the net. He found his footing and sailed the kick past Stony Brook keeper Stefan Manz for the equalizer.
Harvard took control of the tempo in overtime and had multiple chances to win. However, Manz came up with the play of the game in the second overtime. A kick from the far corner came into the box where Rogers took a header, but Manz came up with a diving save to his left to preserve the draw.
In total, Stony Brook had 14 shots, four of them on goal. Harvard had 11 shots, three on goal. Conrad made three saves to go to 0-0-1, and Manz made two saves, none bigger than his stop in double overtime, to go to 4-2-1.
Stony Brook will play again Sunday evening against Quinnipiac at LaValle Stadium at 5 p.m.
