The Fairleigh Dickinson men’s soccer team extended its win streak to four and remained unbeaten in Northeast Conference play as they defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 2-0, Friday evening at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ.  With the victory, the Knights improve to 7-2-1 (3-0-0 NEC) on the season, while the Mount falls to 4-5-1 (1-2-0 NEC) overall.

 

Head Coach #Seth Roland# became the Knights’ all-time leader in wins with 155 as he passed Ben Stravato (1978-89).  The victory was also Roland’s 275^th in his 25^th season as a head coach.

 

Early on in the match, the Knights were on the offensive as they attacked the Mount’s end of the pitch.  In the third minute of the match, freshman #Anders Vest-Hansen# took a touch off a free kick and just missed a goal as his shot from around 25 yards out grazed the top of the crossbar. 

 

Almost two minutes later, sophomore #MIchael Calderon# ripped a shot just outside the six yard line on the left side but the shot was blocked by a defender on a great slide.

 

In the sixth minute of play, a handball in the box by Mount St. Mary’s gave FDU a penalty kick.  Junior #Jack McVey# took the kick and scored easily as he found the bottom left-corner of the back of the net to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.  The goal was McVey’s team-leading third of the season and second by way of a penalty kick.

 

FDU continued to put pressure on the Mount throughout the first half as they fired five more shots on goal, but they were all turned away.

 

In the 43rd minute of the match, Mount St. Mary’s thought it had an opportunity to possibly tie the game as the Knights’ defense had a rare breakdown, but Ian Hendrie’s shot in the box was turned away by sophomore #Jacob Lissek# as he dove in the air to his left to deflect the shot and keep FDU ahead.

 

Over the first 45 minutes, the Knights outshot the Mount, 10-5.

 

With the Knights’ still up 1-0 in the second half and in the 76^th minute, freshman #Arsinio Walker# received a through ball and shot a knuckle ball that was heading towards the left-bottom corner of the goal but was knocked away by Mount St. Mary’s goalie Peter Steve at the last second. 

 

With just under 10 minutes remaining, the Mount had an opportunity to tie the game once again, but a shot just went wide of the goal in heavy traffic.

 

The Knights then sealed the game when Calderon took a ball from roughly 35 yards out and dribbled the ball up the left side and made a move towards the center of the field towards the goal through four defenders.  He then made a move on the last defender and ripped a shot from 12 yards out in the box to the left-side of the goal to seal FDU’s 2-0 victory.

 

In the second half, both teams took seven shots.  The Knights outshot the Mount, 17-12, in the match with eight of their shots being on goal.

 

Lissek recorded his third shutout of the season and second in three games, while recording three saves to run his record to 7-2-1 on the season.  Steve made six saves for the Mount.

 

FDU will look to continue its winning ways on Sunday when they travel to Fairfield, CT to take on Sacred Heart.  Kick-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.