NEW YORK — Down two goals, the Columbia men's soccer team put together a charge through the final 25-plus minutes to put visiting Stony Brook on its heels. Despite Jake Novoshelski's goal in the later stages, the Seawolves ultimately held on, 2-1, spoiling the Lions' home opener Tuesday on a soggy, wet night at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
Columbia (0-2-0) surrendered a pair of first-half goals as a direct result of corner kicks. Stony Brook (3-1-0) had plenty of them on the night, totaling 14 before all was said and done. The visitors' first goal came from a Moses Bakabulindi corner that went untouched through the box. The second, less than seven minutes later, came on a Rondell Payne header at the far post to double the lead.
 
"Frustrating, right? To give up goals the way we did tonight," Columbia head coach Kevin Anderson said in his ESPN postgame interview. "We had to absorb a bit of pressure in the first half, and not to take credit away from them, but these are … things we work to improve upon on a regular basis. The bottom line, in those situations, we just needed to be better."
 
After 55 minutes without much to show for it, Anderson called for substitutions and seemingly hit all of the right buttons. They included Novoshelski, Will DeNight and Brandon Newman, who immediately began to apply pressure and went on to combine for six of Columbia's 14 shots on the night.
 
With less than 15 minutes to go, all of that pressure finally cracked the Seawolves' defense. DeNight gained possession outside the right edge of the penalty area and sent a cross into a tightly packed six-yard box. Stony Brook headed it back out, but Novoshelski was lined up for the clearance and volleyed a bouncing ball with his right foot just inside the left post to cut the margin in half. "We needed a few minutes after halftime to get the information to [our substitutes] on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to change things," Anderson added. "Those guys came in and did well. They applied the changes and that's a credit to them."
 
As Columbia took more chances and came forward late, Stony Brook was able to attack on the counter and win a few more corners. Those restarts took precious time off the clock, slowing Columbia's bid for an equalizer.
 
"Look, we gave up too much too easily in terms of restarts," Anderson went on to say. "There were certain situations where, tactically, guys just got caught too high in the positioning. You get these restarts and they're tough. The service from Stony Brook and the quality of their services were very good. It puts a lot of pressure on you and you can't ignore the volume of corners we gave up.
 
"That being said, I think there were moments tonight where we were better than we were at George Washington. Now, the question is, can we keep on building? In certain ways, we took a step forward in tonight's game."
 
Columbia will try to get in the win column on Friday when it makes the short trip to Manhattan College. Kickoff from Gaelic Park is set for 6 p.m.

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