ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany men's soccer team visits Stony Brook for its 2021 regular season finale.
 
Game Info
UAlbany (10-5-1, 4-2-1) at Stony Brook (7-6-0, 3-4-0)
Monday, November 1 (6:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany returns its five leading scorers from the 2021 spring season, including top scorer Adam Aoumaich (4 goals, 1 assist) and 2019 America East Striker of the Year Austin DaSilva (2 goals, three assists)
• UAlbany's roster features 15 new players
• UAlbany 3-5-0 on the road this season; Stony Brook is 4-3-0 at home
• Austin DaSilva ranks tied for fourth in the America East in assists (5)
• Carlos Tofern ranks third in shutouts (5) and goals-against average (1.12)
• Stony Brook ranks ninth in the America East in shots taken (110)
• After utilizing a unique three-pod scheduling format during the spring 2021 season, the America East will return to its regular round-robin format for the fall

Scouting Stony Brook
The Seawolves are currently tied for fifth place in the America East standings with UMass Lowell with nine points each with one game remaining.  In the spring, Stony Brook went 1-6-1 overall, ending the season on a four-game skid.  The Seawolves were picked to finish eighth in the 2021 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll, between Hartford and Binghamton.  Two Seawolves, Aki Solvason and Jonas Bickus, lead the team with four goals each.  UAlbany has not beaten Stony Brook since the 2006 season, going 0-11-3 since their last victory in the series.
 
Last Time vs. Stony Brook
The Great Danes have not played Stony Brook since the 2019 season, falling to the Seawolves on the road 3-2 in overtime.  Austin DaSilva and Kaio DaSilva both scored, overcoming a 1-0 deficit following Stony Brook's early goal in the 11th minute.  The Seawolves retook the lead in the 63rd minute, before Kaio DaSilva's goal three minutes later.  In overtime, Stony Brook broke through in the 98th minute to seal the victory.  The win for the Seawolves snapped UAlbany's five-game winning streak and was Stony Brook's first conference win of the season.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany punched its ticket to the 2021 America East Tournament with a victory over Binghamton on Senior Night.  The first half went by without a score, despite a dangerous opportunity from the Great Danes that saw three of their shots blocked in the Binghamton box in five seconds.  Early in the second half, however, Pantelis Panteli served in free kick to the middle of the Binghamton box, flicked by Guillermo Mijancos to Alex Bourgeois for the score.  The Great Danes' defense only allowed Binghamton two shots after halftime and closed the game with the 1-0 victory.
 
Around the America East
Four teams, New Hampshire, Vermont, UAlbany, and UMBC, have clinched spots in the America East Tournament, with two playoff berths at stake on Monday's final day of the 2021 regular season.  New Hampshire leads Vermont by three points, with UAlbany three points further back and at a disadvantage to both the Wildcats and Catamounts in head-to-head results.  Stony Brook and UMass Lowell are tied for fifth with nine points each, while Binghamton, NJIT, and Hartford each have six with one game to play.
 
Common Opponents

• Fairfield
  • UAlbany: 8/26 vs. Fairfield, W, 1-0
  • Stony Brook: 9/11 vs. Fairfield, W, 2-1 (2OT)
• Hofstra
  • UAlbany: 9/14 at Hofstra, L, 0-4
  • Stony Brook: 8/30 vs. Hofstra, L, 0-1
• New Hampshire
  • UAlbany: 9/18 at #9 New Hampshire, L, 0-2
  • Stony Brook: 10/28 at #6 New Hampshire, L, 0-5
• NJIT
  • UAlbany: 9/25 vs. NJIT, W, 2-1
  • Stony Brook: 10/13 at NJIT, W, 2-1
• Hartford
  • UAlbany: 10/9 at Hartford, W, 1-0 (OT)
  • Stony Brook: 10/2 vs. Hartford, L, 1-3
• UMass Lowell
  • UAlbany: 10/13 vs. UMass Lowell, W, 2-1
  • Stony Brook: 10/17 vs. UMass Lowell, L, 1-3
• UMBC
  • UAlbany: 10/17 vs. UMBC, T, 1-1 (2OT)
  • Stony Brook: 10/9 at UMBC, W, 3-1
• Vermont
  • UAlbany: 10/23 at Vermont, L, 0-2
  • Stony Brook: 9/18 vs. Vermont, W, 2-0
• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 10/28 vs. Binghamton, W, 1-0
  • Stony Brook: 9/25 at Binghamton, L, 0-1
• UAlbany (5-3-1) | Stony Brook (4-5-0)

Monday's America East Games

• UAlbany at Stony Brook, 6:00 pm
• NJIT at Hartford, 6:00 pm
• Vermont at Binghamton, 7:00 pm
• New Hampshire at UMass Lowell, 7:00 pm

Clinched
The UAlbany men's soccer team, following a one-season hiatus, will return to the America East postseason after clinching their spot with a victory over Binghamton on the team's 2021 senior night.  The Great Danes defeated the Bearcats 1-0 and will make their 10th appearance in the conference tournament in the last 11 years.
 
Seniors
In the regular-season home finale against Binghamton, the UAlbany men's soccer team held a brief pregame ceremony to honor the members of the 2021 senior class: Alex Bourgeois, Austin DaSilva, Bjarki Leosson, Guillermo Mijancos, Carlos Morehouse, Zach Powell, Bjarki Ragnar, Haflidi Sigurdarson, and Carlos Tofern.  The Great Danes came away with a 1-0 victory against Binghamton and punched their ticket to the America East Tournament.
 
USC Regional
With two games remaining in the regular season, and following a defeat at Vermont, UAlbany has fallen two spots in the United Soccer Coaches Northeast regional poll.  In Week 9, the Great Danes rank eighth, down from fifth in Week 8, and down from their high of fourth in Weeks 2, 3, and 5.  New Hampshire, who remains undefeated, but who has drawn their last two games, still holds the top spot in the regional rankings.   Two other America East schools, Vermont (4), and Stony Brook (10) each earned spots in the Northeast top-10.

• Week 9: 7th
• Week 8: 5th
• Week 7: 7th
• Week 6: 5th
• Week 5: 4th
• Week 4: 9th
• Week 3: 4th
• Week 2: 4th
• Week 1: 5th

Rookie of the Week
Freshman Saad Faiz, a forward from Casablanca, Morocco, was named America East Rookie of the Week on October 17.  Faiz scored his first career goal for UAlbany on October 13 against UMass Lowell, sealing the 2-1 victory for the Great Danes in the 80th minute.  Faiz is UAlbany men's soccer's first America East Rookie of the Week since Hugo Guerra on October 15, 2018.
 
First Draw
In their fourth overtime game of the season, UAlbany men's soccer finally saw a game end in a draw.  Playing UMBC, the Retrievers scored early before UAlbany netted the equalizer.  Despite outshooting the Retrievers 21-9, the game went into overtime and neither team was able to score.  It was UAlbany's first draw of the season, having won each of their previous three overtime games.
 
First Timers
UAlbany's game against UMass Lowell, a 2-1 victory, featured two players scoring their first goals as Great Danes.  In the first half, in the 38th minute, Neophytos Scottis redirected a corner kick serve from Pantelis Panteli into the far side netting with his head to tie the game at one, after the River Hawks took advantage of a defensive miscue for UAlbany in the fourth minute to take an early lead.  Later, in the 81st, Saad Faiz ripped a rocket from the top corner of the box into the top netting, off a pass from Haflidi Sigurdarson, to put UAlbany up 2-1, which would prove to be the final score.
 
Team Academic
The United Soccer Coaches announced its honorees for Team Academic honors from the 2020-21 season, and the UAlbany men once again made the list.  Head coach Trevor Gorman's squad during the last school year recorded a cumulative GPA of 3.34.  To qualify for the recognition, a team needs to record a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher.
 
Game-Winner
Another tight game for the Great Danes went into overtime against Rhode Island.  UAlbany overcame their first-half scoring struggles, putting one away in the sixth minute and again in the 45th right before the break.  Rhode Island tied the game a two in the 73rd, ultimately forcing overtime.  In the 105th, Austin DaSilva, 2019 America East Striker of the Year, scored his first goal of the season to clinch the golden-goal victory for the Great Danes over the Rams.
 
Shutouts
In their first seven games to start the 2021 season, each game UAlbany played included a shutout.  In victories, UAlbany had not allowed a goal, winning four games by a score of 1-0.  And in defeats, UAlbany had not scored, falling 3-0 at St. John's, 4-0 at Hofstra, and most recently 2-0 at #9 New Hampshire.  UAlbany had not scored a goal in the first half this season, and have not scored a goal earlier than the 62nd minute, with their average goal coming in the 81st minute.  Both streaks were broken against Rhode Island, a 3-2, double-overtime victory for the Great Danes during which they scored their first goal in the sixth minute.
 
To the Wire
One game after defeating Marist in the 99th minute, and after playing Lafayette to a scoreless tie for 89 minutes, the Great Danes broke through to defeat the Leopards 1-0 with three seconds remaining in regulation.  A serve in to Austin DaSilva from midfield was redirected to Adam Aoumaich.  Aoumaich played the ball into the middle of the Lafayette box to Giuliano Lucca, whose shot tipped the Lafayette goalkeepers fingers and fell into the right side netting for the win.
 
Defensive Player of the Week
UAlbany goalkeeper Carlos Tofern was named America East Defensive Player of the Week on September 7, earning his first-ever weekly award from the conference and the team's first weekly award of the season.  Tofern recorded six saves in the Great Danes' shutout victory at Villanova.  At the time of his award, Tofern was 2-1-0 on the season with two shutouts.
 
Three-for-Three
Through UAlbany's first four games of the 2021 fall season, and three Great Dane victories, Haflidi Sigurdarson has accounted for each UAlbany goal scored.  He scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory in the season opener against Fairfield, off assists from Andrew Weiner and Giuliano Lucca, and then scored on a penalty kick to knock off Villanova.  Most recently, Sigurdarson scored the game-winner in the 99th minute to seal an overtime victory over Marist.
 
Picked Fourth
The Great Danes were picked fourth in the 2021 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  Three-time defending champion New Hampshire was picked as the unanimous favorite, ahead of Vermont and NJIT.  UAlbany edged out a pack of four teams separated by a total of five points: UAlbany (33), UMass Lowell (31), UMBC (30), and Hartford (28).
 
Familiar Foes
Due to the America East's implementation of a unique three-pod scheduling format for the 2021 spring season, UAlbany played six conference games against a total of four conference opponents (Binghamton, Hartford, UMBC, and Vermont).  This season, the Great Danes will return to their full round-robin conference slate to once again play every other team in the America East, including three-time defending champion New Hampshire, as well as the first-ever game against NJIT as a conference opponent.
 
New Look
Despite returning its top five scorers from the 2021 spring season, the fall 2021 Great Danes feature 15 new players on the roster.  The new recruits hail from a total of seven countries, including the United States, adding to the diverse background that already exists within Coach Gorman's program.
 
Finishing Strong
After starting the 2021 spring season 0-4-1, the Great Danes rallied down the stretch to win three of their final four games of the season by a total score of 8-3.  UAlbany claimed victory over both of its pod opponents, Binghamton and postseason-bound Hartford during the stretch, avenging earlier-season losses to both squads.
 
Next: The America East Tournament begins November 6.