The Battle of Long Island was conquered by the Hofstra University men’s soccer team with a 2-0 victory over cross-state rival Stony Brook University on Sept. 12 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
“The rivalry is really intense,” said Hofstra men’s soccer coach Richard Nuttall. “You know that the chatter gets going weeks before the game and we’re happy to say we painted the island blue today.”
George O’Malley buried the game-winning goal in the 77th minute off an assist from Felix Smith Halle. That would prove to be all the Pride needed with another stout shutout from goaltender Alex Ashton.
Hofstra picked up its second consecutive win to improve to 2-3-2 on the season, while Stony Brook fell to 2-3-1. Ashton, companied by the stallworth defense of the Pride, earned his third straight shutout.
Matthew Vowinkel added the icing on the cake with a sweet-scoring bicycle kick in the 84th minute off a corner kick from Marcus Lindqvist.
Both teams were evenly matched throughout a scoreless first half of play. Stony Brook fired two shots in the first 20 minutes of action, but both were thwarted away by Pride defenders. Seawolves keeper Christian Miesch and a strong defensive back left Hofstra with two empty shots, including Peter Meyer’s that sailed over the crossbar as Hofstra’s best first half scoring chance in the eighth minute of play. The Pride finished with seven first half shots compared to Seawolves’ five.
The second half started the same as the first with Stony Brook coming up short on their first three shots.
“I think we reorganized and reset at halftime and got back to our game plan,” Nuttall said.
The Pride failed to connect on their first shots, as well.
Midway through the half, Sean Nealis sent a throw in deep into Stony Brook territory that Smith Halle tapped to O’Malley who put it inside the far post.
Hofstra’s deadbolt defense locked down after the O’Malley goal, allowing only one more Seawolves shot, which sailed wide of the net.
“Our defense was a lot better and then we just worked and we worked and we worked… I’m proud of how they did,” Nuttall said.
The Pride finished by outshooting the Seawolves 13-11, with six of those 13 shots on goal. Both keepers finished with four saves, while Hofstra led with seven corner kicks compared Stony Brook’s five.
The blue and gold return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in their last non-conference game before Colonial Athletic Association play at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
