BOX SCORE
STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's soccer team fell short of capturing the program's second America East Tournament championship on Sunday evening when it fell to the Stony Brook Seawolves by a 4-2 final at La Valle Stadium. Stony Brook, which captured its third conference championship, will receive the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore David Bernhardsson and rookies Atobra Ampadu and Damion Lowe were named to the America East All-Tournament Team. Ampadu and Bernhardsson each tallied a goal and an assist during the tournament while Lowe added an assist.
The Seawolves didn't waste any time to light up the scoreboard as Will Casey, a sophomore midfielder, reached the back of the net in the third minute when he put the finishing touches on a free kick by Leonardo Fernades. After Mame Samb deflected the kick towards Casey, he redirected it towards the goal from three yards out, beating Citriniti to the right and hitting the upper corner of the net.
Hartford countered in the 17th minute when it capitalized on a free kick. After Ampadu got taken down from 28-yards out, Bernhardsson took the honors on the kick and rifled a high shot which sailed to the upper left of the nylon out of reach of Stony Brook keeper Stefan Manz. The shot was the Hawks' first on the match.
Just before the halftime break, Stony Brook regained the lead in the 42nd minute thanks to Fernandes' first of two goals on the evening. Raphael Abreu, a junior, pushed a lateral pass to the middle of the box finding Fernandes, the America East Midfielder of the Year. Fernandes put a right boot on the ball and beat Hartford keeper Luke Citriniti with his league-best eighth marker of the year to put the Seawolves ahead, 2-1, at the half
Fernandes completed his goal scoring just 4:33 into the second half to provide a cushion for Stony Brook. After Citriniti was knocked down inside of the box, Fernandes, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, received a ball from Berian Gobeil and in front of an open net, he launched a kick to the right side to push the Seawolves' lead to 3-1.
Bernhardsson saw an opportunity to cut into the Hawks 'deficit in the 72nd minute. From 13-yards out, he found an opening in the Seawolves' defense and rifled a liner straight-on the goal. Manz however was in position to make the save and punched the ball out to safety, preventing the marker by the visitors.
Seven minutes later, Christian Molinar and Kyle Schlesinger would hook up in the 79th minute to seal the game for Stony Brook. On a breakaway, Molinar led Schlesinger with a downfield pass and after getting ahead of Hawks' defender Connor Yeaney, he beat Citriniti on the one-on-one with a low shot to the right to put the Seawolves ahead at 4-1.
Hartford managed a late goal in the 84th minute to close the gap at 4-2. Inside of the box from just eight yards out, Anthony Santaga tracked down the ball in a scramble and easily knocked in his team-leading sixth marker of the season.
Hartford rebounded from a 1-5 start to reach the America East Championship for the second time in program history and close out the 2011 campaign 8-9-4. The Hawks lose six seniors – Jordan Bar, Patrick Boucher,Citriniti,Andrew Liapis, Matt McElroy and Jorge Rodriguez – to graduation.
