HAMDEN, Conn. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson men’s soccer team dropped a winner-take-all Northeast Conference match Sunday afternoon to Quinnipiac at the QU Soccer Field, 3-0. With the victory, the Bobcats win the NEC regular season title and will host next weekend’s NEC Tournament as the top seed, while finishing the regular season on a six-match win streak to improve to 10-5-2 (8-1-1 NEC). The Knights, meanwhile, see their nine-match unbeaten streak come to an end, finish the regular season with a record of 9-5-4 (6-1-3 NEC) and will be the No. 2 seed at the NEC Tournament.

Quinnipiac used a pair of first half goals to take a 2-0 lead at halftime. William Cavallo scored the first of his two goals on the day in the 29th minute to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. The goal snapped FDU’s shutout streak of 654 minutes.

Four minutes before halftime, Phillip Surprise, who assisted on the first goal, found the back of the net on a feed from Robbie McLarney to put Quinnipiac up 2-0.

Over the first 45 minutes, the Bobcats outshot the Knights 6-5, while each team had a pair of corner kicks. Quinnpiac goalkeeper Borja Angoitia had to make a pair of saves on shots by freshmen Sam Durkot (sixth minute) and Simon Doherty (13th minute).

Needing to outscore the Bobcats by at least a 2-0 margin in the second half, FDU came out strong on offense with a pair of corner kicks, two shots by sophomore Anders Vest-Hansen and a pair of offside’s called against them, which showed its aggressiveness.

However, the Knights could not get anything going on the afternoon, and the home team sealed the regular season title in the 81st on Cavallo’s second goal of the day, which extended the lead to the final score of 3-0.

Both teams had three shots in the second half, with the Bobcats holding a 9-8 advantage in the match. The Knights led on corner kicks, 7-3, thanks to a 5-1 advantage over the final 45 minutes.

With the loss, FDU saw its six-match shutout streak come to an end. Before today, the Knights had allowed only two goals in conference play.

“It just was not our day today,” Head Coach Seth Roland said. “Give credit to Quinnipiac for getting a good result and winning a well-deserved regular season title. We will regroup and will start preparing for the NEC Tournament on Tuesday.”

Next up is the NEC Tournament at Quinnipiac next weekend. FDU will take on Garden State rival and No. 3 seed Monmouth in the second semifinal on Friday, Nov. 9. Kickoff time has not been determined. Quinnipiac will take on No. 4 seed Saint Francis Pa. in the first semifinal. The winners will play for the NEC Tournament title on Sunday, Nov. 11.

The Knights and the Hawks battled to a scoreless tie at Monmouth back on Oct. 5. The draw snapped an eight-match losing streak in the series for FDU.

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