On This Day In History | 1998

The ’98 Bears

On this day 20 years ago, the boys’ soccer team upset Babylon, 3-2. Here is the account of the game from Newsday.

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Albert Helps S. Brook Upset Babylon

Stony Brook needed a big win to stay in the race for second place in League VII boys soccer. Yesterday, it got it.

Chris Albert scored the game-winning goal when he curled a direct kick from 35 yards into the lower left corner to give Stony Brook a 3-2 overtime upset over Babylon. For the Bears (5-4), the win was a payback for a 1-0 loss they suffered to Babylon (5-3) earlier in the season.

“You can imagine at halftime being down 2-0 the thoughts were very bleak,” Stony Brook coach David Church said. “The kids were saying at halftime, `No ties, remember Babylon.’ They want some justice from when they got beat earlier in the year and they got it.”

Stony Brook got on the board when Nick Miaritis scored on a pass from Josh Stephens 6:16 into the second half to make it 2-1. Ryosuke Ito tied it at 2 for the Bears by knocking in a cross from Miaritis midway through the second half. Then came Albert’s game-winner.

“He’s {Albert} had a great career, but this is a huge goal for him,” Church said. “As far as I’m concerned it gave us a win over a team we had to beat to be playoff bound. This win made a real statement in the league that can hold over going into the playoffs.”

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The Bears went on to clinch the first ever Final Four berth in school history.

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