SBU Sports: Men’s soccer drops midweek contest to Iona 3-2

Stony Brook men’s soccer dropped a mid-week contest to Iona, 3-2, at LaValle Stadium on Aug. 28. Amit Magoz and Olsen Aluc tallied goals for the Seawolves in the defeat.

Iona grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Camil Azzam Ruiz netted his first goal of the night in the 33rd minute. The Seawolves evened the match thanks to Amit Magoz; Moses Bakabulindi and Bas Beckhoven assisted on Magoz’s first tally of the 2023 season.

Minutes later, Azzam Ruiz broke the tie. The Gaels took a 3-1 lead after Azzam Ruiz scored his third goal of the evening in the 67th minute. Stony Brook stormed back, cutting the deficit to one goal after Olsen Aluc found a rebound in front of the net and buried it. The initial shot from Trevor Harrison was saved but caromed out to Aluc who found twine.

The Seawolves would play down a man for the final 18-plus minutes of action after Harrison was issued his second yellow of the night. Stony Brook’s best chance at an equalizer came on a Bakabulindi shot in space that sailed high above the crossbar in the 74th minute.

“The second half I thought was much better; the guys fought until the end, which is a positive,” head coach Ryan Anatol noted. “We still created chances although we went down a man. But we’ve got to put two halves together. We’ve got to put 90 minutes together if we want to get a result.”

Next up, the team kicks off conference play on Sept. 2, hosting Elon at LaValle Stadium for a 2  p.m. start. The second-ever meeting between the Seawolves and Elon will stream live on FloFC.