WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The rematch of last year's America East Men's Soccer Tournament title game between the University of Hartford and Stony Brook proved to be a hard-fought battle, but it was the Seawolves who prevailed with the 2-1 victory on Saturday night in front of a boisterous crowd at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium.

After trailing at the halftime break by a 1-0 count, Anthony Santaga put the game tying mark up on the scoreboard for the Hawks in the 63rd minute. The momentum wasn't enough for the Hawks, however, as Leonardo Fernandes, the Seawolves' top scorer, countered 10 minutes later to provide his team with a 2-1 advantage that would not be relinquished.

Hartford, which has yet to earn a win in the conference this season, dips to 6-7-1 overall with a 0-3-1 record in the America East. The Seawolves improve to 3-1-0 in league play and 9-3-1 in 2012.

Stony Brook got the scoring going in the 25th minute, netting the first goal of the match on a rebound to jump ahead 1-0. Hartford keeper Viltsu Tuumi, who finished the match with six saves, made an impressive rejection on a point-blank shot off the foot of Raphael Abreu. Luck went in favor of the Seawolves, however, as the rebound fell back on the boot of Abreu who used a soft touch to tuck the ball into the upper right corner and give his team the advantage.

It was a tale of two halves for the Hawks, though, as they were the dominating squad coming out of the intermission. In the 62nd minute, sophomore Connor Yeaney got a left foot on a ball following a free kick, but Stony Brook keeper Stefan Manz made the difficult save. The aggressiveness on the offensive end of the pitch paid off for the Hawks as one minute later, Santaga scored for the sixth time this year to even up the score at 1-1.

Sophomore Rohan Roye provided the spark for Hartford by serving a perfect cross into the box and finding an unmarked Santaga in the 63rd minute. From nine yards out, Santaga tracked down the pass and used his head to sail a shot over a leaping Stefan Manz and hit the upper left corner of the net out of reach of the leaping Seawolves' goalkeeper.

Ten minutes later, Berian Gobeil directed a header from downfield to Fernandes. After gathering the pass, Fernandes, who had one defender on him, snapped a shot from 28 yards out. The ball hit the upper part of the net, out of reach of an outstretched Tuumi, to give Stony Brook the lead for good at 2-1.