NEWARK, DEL. – For the first time since the 2000 season, the Stony Brook women's soccer program has won its first three games of the campaign. The latest was a 2-1 defeat of Delaware in Newark, the team's first road match of the season.
 
Junior Chase Rome (Mulino, Ore.) started the Seawolves' scoring in the 19^thminute to tie the match at one and classmate Alyssa Francese (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) made it 2-1 with a point-blank goal in the 48^thminute to give Stony Brook all it would need to improve to 3-0-0.
 
BISCHOF'S REACTION
"It is not easy to win away games, especially against a well-coached team like Delaware. I'm very proud of the ladies. They played organized and stuck to out gameplan and we were able to grind one out against a good CAA opponent."
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 15^th minute – Delaware 1, Stony Brook 0 – The Blue Hens started the scoring with a long ball into the box from Jessica Kennett. The ball bounced twice and Claudia Benz was able to finish over junior Sofia Manner (Helsinki, Finland) for the opening goal.
• 19^th minute – Stony Brook 1, Delaware 1 – Rome made sure the Seawolves would not trail for long, chesting down a clearance and firing a volley into the bottom left corner from the top of the box to even the scoring.
• 48^th minute – Stony Brook 2, Delaware 1 – Francese gave the Seawolves the lead for good after classmate Chelsie DePonte (Honolulu, Hawaii) showed great vision to loft a pass between two Blue Hen defenders, leaving Francese one-on-one with the keeper.

STATS AND NOTES

• It is the first tally of the season for the Yorktown Heights, N.Y. native. She also became Stony Brook's fifth different goal scorer on the season.
• Francese is now up to 19 career goals, which moves her into ninth all-time in the program's history.
• DePonte now has a team-high five points on the year with her first assist of the 2019 campaign.
• It was also the first goal of the season for Rome, who recorded her first goal since her freshman season.
• Manner made five saves on the night, including four in the second half to keep Delaware from equalizing.
• During the 2000 season, the Seawolves defeated Duquesne, Vermont and UMBC to begin the year with three wins. 
• The Seawolves have now won six consecutive regular season matches and are unbeaten in 11 of their last 13 contests.

UP NEXT
The road trip continues on Sunday when the Seawolves trek northwest to Philadelphia for a date with Saint Joseph's at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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