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 2-2 for the Bears by knocking in a cross from Miaritis midway through the second half. Then came Albert’s game-winner.

“[Albert’s] 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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