The Hofstra Pride men’s soccer team fell to the Stony Brook Seawolves 2-1 on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the Hofstra University Soccer Stadium. All of the game’s goals were scored early in the first half, as a shutout was posted after the 25th minute.

Coming off an impressive 3-0 shutout win against Charleston University, the Pride looked flat early in the game.

“Incredibly disappointing,” said Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall after the game. “The first 15 minutes cost us the game. We didn’t get out the gates and emotionally we weren’t in the game. Full credit to Stony Brook – they were energetic and aggressive, and we were down 2-0 before we knew it … We didn’t show the grit, determination [or] effort. We just weren’t there tonight.”

Stony Brook did not take long to get going, scoring their first goal just before the 14th minute of play. Hofstra gave up a penalty kick that allowed Jarred Dass to put the Seawolves up 1-0. Just under three minutes later, Stony Brook scored again off another penalty to go up 2-0 with 30:24 remaining in the half.

In just 15 minutes of play, Hofstra had already surrendered two goals – tied for their second most in an entire game this season. Hofstra’s George O’Malley then provided an answer as he knocked in a goal with 24:20 left in the first half. This proved to be the last goal of the game. The rest of the half was a defensive battle between both teams as they fought to take control.

Coming out after the halftime break, both teams picked up where they had left off at the end of the first half, playing tight defense.

Nuttall’s message to his team at halftime was simple: “The backline has got to be more aggressive getting out to condense the field … play quicker … and be more decisive with the ball and get in good position.”

Hofstra goalkeeper Alex Ashton has been stepping up for the Pride defensively this season but allowed two goals early on in the contest.

“I can’t really blame Alex for the goals,” Nuttall said. “It’s a team effort and we weren’t at the races. We weren’t energetic. We weren’t determined and we gave them a lot of room.”

The game featured controversial calls and non-calls by the officials for both sides, which resulted in two penalty goals for the Seawolves.

“From my point of view, they were persistently fouled, but they weren’t terrible fouls so I was happy with the officiating,” said Nuttall.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics