Men's Soccer Falls to Stony Brook, 2-0
October 5, 2005 | Men's Soccer
BOSTON ??? The Boston University men???s soccer team dropped to 0-1-1 in America East with a 2-0 loss to Stony Brook on Wednesday (Oct. 5) at Nickerson Field. The Terriers are now 3-6-1 overall, while the Seawolves improved to 6-2-3 overall with a 1-0-1 conference mark and avenged their 2-0 loss to BU in last year's conference semifinals.
Falling behind 1-0 in the first, BU was not able to recover as the Seawolves collected their first conference win of the season. In somewhat of an offensive stalemate, the Terriers have not been able to score in the last two games after going unbeaten for the three prior games. Freshman midfielder Neil Hlavaty (Lombard, Ill.) created most of BU???s offensive drive, with a team high four shots, but the Terriers were unable to capitalize on what chances they had.
???We???re struggling offensively,??? said Terrier Head Coach Neil Roberts. ???We???ve got young guys up there and we???re trying to find the right combinations. They???re inexperienced and doing the best they can.???
Zach Norwood put away the unassisted game-winner, his first goal of the season, in the 15th minute when he got between a BU pass in front of the net. Caught slightly off-guard, BU junior goalkeeper Zach Riffett (Brenham, Texas) was not able to stop Norwood???s shot from the top of the box, which hit the center of the net at 14:06.
With the will to tie the game before the first 45 minutes had expired, the Terriers created chances late in the half and were able to keep possession for the final few minutes. Hlavaty nearly knotted the game with a high shot from the right side, but Seawolves keeper EJ Xikis got half a hand on the ball to preserve Stony Brook???s lead.
Although the Terriers maintained better possession in the second half, a dangerous situation occurred around the midway point when a persistent Stony Brook team grabbed the ball near center field and had a breakaway chance. After Riffett made the initial save on Chris Megaloudis??? shot, Chris Scarpati went for the rebound, but was again robbed by the Terrier goalkeeper.
Michael Palacio sealed the win for the Seawolves with a goal from just inside the box that hit the top of the far side at 69:20.
Returning to the BU line-up for the first time since Sept. 4 versus Boston College was freshman forward Petur Sigurdsson (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland), who has been out with an injury. Making his first start for the Terriers was fellow rookie back Zach Bauer (St. Louis, Mo.), who returned from injury in Sunday???s (Oct. 2) game versus Buffalo.
The Seawolves out shot the Terriers 8-6 and held the 6-5 corner-kick advantage.
BU hits the road for another America East game on Saturday (Oct. 8) at Albany. The match is set for 1:00 p.m. and is one of six America East contests left for the Terriers.
