St. Francis Brooklyn captured their first outright regular-season Northeast Conference championship since 1997 after defeating the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, 1-0, in the regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The Terriers earned the No. 1 seed and will host the entire NEC Tournament on Friday, November 11^th (semifinals) and Sunday, November 13^th (championship match).  St. Francis Brooklyn will face No. 4 seed Sacred Heart in the semifinals on Friday.

The Terriers, who did not allow a goal in 681 minutes of conference play this season, finished the regular-season with an overall record of 10-4-3 (6-0-1 NEC).

"It's pretty nice not to allow a goal (in NEC play)," said Terriers' head coach Tom Giovatto. "So many alumni called me all week. To see some alumni in the crowd smiling, it's great for everybody."

"It's amazing that we will be hosting the tournament," Giovatto added. "It's something you always hope for at the beginning of the year and you can't ask for anything else. The crowd here today was great and we know it's going to be even bigger next week. It's great, so exciting, it makes the kids want to play even harder."

Senior Yussuf Olajide provided the hosts with all of the scoring that they would need in the 27^th minute, after receiving a feed from junior Dominick Falanga inside the penalty area.  Falanga found Olajide from the corner, and Olajide tapped home his NEC leading fifth game-winner past Blackbirds' keeper Logan Keys, who was caught out of position on the play.  It was the sixth goal of the season for Olajide and the fifth assist for Falanga.

"That play was really, really important for us," Olajide said. "We just had to play defense and the goal was going to come. The defense is playing really good, not only them, but everybody on the team. The guys on the bench have been helping out, giving directions, we've been doing a great job on the season, and this is like a reward. We do everything we have to as a team."

"It's always a great thing, to contribute to the team, especially in this big of a game," Falanga stated. "As long as we win, any contribution I could make is a positive.   "Today we showed real maturity, we had 11 guys on the ball and we knew our objective. I'm happy with the guys, it's a family environment."

Neither team created many scoring opportunities in the contest as they each took only five shots.

"We really focus on defending as a unit, not just our back four," Giovatto explained. "We did a really good job today of reacting, cutting off passing lanes, we did a really good job and we frustrated them."

Roberto Bazzichetto made four saves to record the victory in net.

Senior Salvatore Barone faced his brother Giuseppe for the first time in today's match. "It was an exciting and very emotional game, but at the end of the day, it was fun. There's a big chance that we'll play each other again. "We'll be home talking about it, talking smack to each other, have fun, play soccer, and whoever wins, wins. My mom's nervous right now."

LIU Brooklyn (10-5-2, 4-2-1 NEC) will play Saint Francis U. in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon.
 

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