Senior Tyler Brondyk fueled Stonehill's 3-2, comeback victory against Le Moyne today with two goals in the final 25 minutes of regulation. |
Skyhawks clinch fourth seed in NE-10 Championship, will host Merrimack on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in quarterfinal round
EASTON, Mass. (November 1, 2014) – Led by seniors Tyler Brondyk (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) and Cam McDonough (Walpole, Massachusetts/Walpole), Stonehill College rallied from a two-goal second half deficit to earn a 3-2 victory over Le Moyne College on Senior Day this afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer action at Skyhawk Field.
With the win, Stonehill vaults ahead of Le Moyne and Merrimack College to fourth in the NE-10 standings, and the Skyhawks will host Merrimack in the quarterfinal round of the NE-10 Championship on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Stonehill will be hosting a home playoff game for the first time in 20 seasons, as the 1994 squad dropped a 1-0 contest to Quinnipiac University in the quarterfinal round.
McDonough got Stonehill on the board 15 minutes into the second half, and Brondyk scored twice over the final 25 minutes to help the Skyhawks complete the Senior Day comeback. Junior forward Drew Montano (Avon, Connecticut/Avon) and freshman back Matthew Gallo (Mendham, New Jersey/West Morris Mendham) recorded assists.
Junior goalkeeper Luke Besse (Hamilton, Massachusetts/Hamilton-Wenham Regional) made four saves, including a crucial penalty kick stop early in the second half that would have put the Skyhawks in a 3-0 hole.
Le Moyne was led by graduate student forward Fabian Egger (Planegg, Bavaria/Feodor-Lynen Gymnasium), who scored twice in the opening 31:22 to stake the Dolphins to a 2-0 lead at halftime. Freshman goalkeeper Ben Beaury (Cohoes, New York/LaSalle Institute) made five saves in net, while senior midfielder Alexander Lautner (Munich, Bavaria/Theodolinden Gymnasium) was credited with an assist on Egger's second goal.
The Dolphins jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 13 minutes into the game when Egger raced down a loose ball on the left side of the field and chipped a shot over Besse and into the side netting on the right side of the goal.
Le Moyne went up 2-0 at the 31:22 mark, as Lautner sent a cross into the box from the right flank and Egger one-timed the ball past Besse and into the lower left corner of the net for his second goal of the afternoon and ninth of the season. The Dolphins carried their two-goal lead into halftime, but Stonehill came out firing in the second half.
Senior Cam McDonough kickstarted Stonehill's rally with his first goal of the season in the 60th minute. |
The visiting team had an opportunity to take a commanding three-goal lead in the 56th minute, as Stonehill was whistled for a foul in the box following a corner kick attempt by Le Moyne sophomore midfielder James Goodridge (Baldwinsville, New York/C.W. Baker). Senior back Trevor Creedon (Clinton, New York/Clinton) stepped in to take the penalty kick, but his try was stuffed by Besse's diving effort to his right. Besse has now stopped two penalty kicks this season, with the other coming in Stonehill's 3-0 win over Nyack College on September 13th.
The Skyhawks utilized the momentum from Besse's save to their advantage, as McDonough got the home team on the board just over four minutes later when his shot from just outside the box found the back of the net.
Stonehill equalized in the 66th minute following a corner kick by McDonough. Several Dolphins defenders attempted to head the ball out of the box and away from danger, but it ended up on the foot of Brondyk, who blasted the ball past Beaury to even the score at two.
Brondyk was not done, however, as his second goal of the contest in the 79th minute proved to be the game-winner. Gallo's long through ball from midfield freed Brondyk from a pair of Le Moyne defenders, and the senior finished with a shot to Beaury's left for his fifth goal of the season.
Stonehill overcame a two-goal deficit to win for the second consecutive match and the third time overall this season. The Skyhawks accomplished the feat in Tuesday's double overtime win at Saint Michael's College and also did it on October 8th against Franklin Pierce University, the program's first-ever victory over the Ravens.
Stonehill ends its regular season with an overall record of 11-5-1, including a 9-4 mark in conference play. The fourth-seeded Skyhawks will look to improve on their 6-1-1 record at home this season on Tuesday at 1 p.m., when fifth-seeded Merrimack visits for NE-10 Championship quarterfinal action. Le Moyne finishes its regular season at 12-5 overall and 8-5 in league play, and the sixth-seeded Dolphins will be on the road Tuesday night at third-seeded Adelphi University for their quarterfinal matchup.
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