STONY BROOK, N.Y. — One day shy of a year since his last soccer match, Ben Assane Fall provided the heroics.

Fall, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in last year's opener at home against Stony Brook, this time provided the game-winner on a header off an assist from Emil Jaaskelainen in the 74th minute as the LIU men's soccer team defeated the host Seawolves, 2-1, on Thursday night.

The Sharks have now produced season-opening one-goal wins against Stony Brook in back-to-back seasons.

Jaaskelainen, who assisted the game-winner, had been selected the No. 5 player in the country by Top Drawer Soccer on Wednesday, then had been named to the Hermann Trophy preseason watch list earlier Thursday.

The return of Fall from an ACL tear that required surgery last Sept. 14 now restores a lethal combo up front.

"Certainly Emil is one of the best strikers in the country. And I think Ben is right behind him," coach Michael Mordocco said. "The two of them together are incredible. It's nice to have Ben back, for sure. We missed him last year. He scored a great goal today."

LIU had been buzzing throughout the latter second half with the game even at 1, before ultimately tallying the decisive goal.

Among the opportunities as the Sharks applied furious pressure had been André Puente's point-blank shot being blocked by a defender. Jaaskelainen also redirected Robert Winkler's free kick from just outside the box, which ended up narrowly tipped by the goalkeeper and then off the crossbar.

"This was the same game last year I got hurt in the last minute," Fall said. "Coming back in my first game and scoring the winning goal means a lot to me.

"Emil and I used to practice together a lot — three or four years playing together. I know when he's down the line and I come back from the back post, every single time he's going to put it where I can head it."

LIU had opened the scoring in the seventh minute as Mathew Salinas finished the rebound of an acrobatic shot from Jaaskelainen that was saved. It marked the first goal of Salinas' collegiate career.

Stony Brook had evened the score in the 35th minute on an own goal from the Sharks.

Debuting grad transfer goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski made four saves.

Fellow grad transfers Stevan Miloševic and Ethan Homler also made their LIU debuts in the starting lineup, while grad transfer Jojo Moulton-Condiotti made his Sharks debut off the bench.

Freshmen Joshua Saavedra and Londell Wheeler made their collegiate debuts as subs.

"We're still trying to figure out who we are and what we want to be," Mordocco said. "We used 17 players today, which means we have a lot of depth. I'm really excited to see how this is going to turn out."