Former Presentation College of San Fernando midfielder Kori Cupid was on target to help Stony Brook University defeat University of Maryland Baltimore County at Retriever Soccer Park, Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday.
After the hosts scored the opening goal early in the second half, the Stony Brook men's football team erupted to end a two-match losing slide.
After a goalless first-half, Jago Lott put UMBC ahead in the 48th minute but Kori Cupid tied it up for Stony Brook in the 61st minute getting on the end of Trausti Birgisson’s corner to head it near post and eliminate UMBC's advantage they had secured 12 minutes earlier.
Aki Solvason did the rest, giving the Stony Brook Seawolves the lead in the 71st and putting insurance on in the 81st to spoil the UMBC Homecoming match and earn the visitors a 3-1 victory on Saturday night in Baltimore.
After the Solvason tally, Aki made sure the three points were secured after a great individual effort in the box and near-post rifle.
Speaking after the match, Stony coach, former St Mary’s College standout player in the 1990s Ryan Anatol said, “I was really proud of our team's ability to bounce back after allowing the goal.
Anatol added, “It's a tough battle to get results away from home and we were able to be resilient and not back down when we went behind. I thought Aki had a great day, scoring the two goals after getting into the box and Trausti (Birgisson) did a good job putting the set-piece in a dangerous position, allowing Kori (Cupid) to take advantage. We have a quick turnaround coming so we'll look to use some of this momentum heading into Wednesday."
A winner everywhere he has coached, Ryan Anatol has made a major impact in his nine seasons as the Stony Brook men's football head coach, guiding the Seawolves to the 2018 America East Regular Season title, seven America East Conference Tournament appearances, the 2011 America East Championship title, the program's third NCAA Tournament appearance, the program's highest RPI finish and six regular seasons with a winning record including back-to-back ten-plus win seasons.
Anatol's teams have also excelled in the classroom, earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for having a team GPA above 3.0 on six occasions and in 2015-16 Alejandro Fritz was named the America East Man of the Year.
He also worked as an assistant coach at the University of South Florida (2005-2010); Akron (2003-2004); Lakeland College (2002) and one year as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater the University of South Florida in 2001.