FDU Holds on for 1-0 Victory Over Lehigh
TEANECK, N.J. -- A diving save to the left by senior goalkeeper Jacob Lissek preserved a 1-0 victory over Lehigh for the Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team at a packed University Stadium Monday night. With the victory, the Knights improve to 2-0 on the season, while the Mountain Hawks fall to 0-2 overall.
With four seconds left in the match, Lehigh had a free kick just outside the box on the left side. With one tick left on the clock, a shot by Matt McCombs was heading towards the back of the net on the right side, but Lissek made an outstanding effort to his left to prevent the equalizer and preserve the win for FDU.
For most of the match, the Knights dominated possession and pressured Lehigh all night long. Thirty seconds into the contest, junior Nico Wright sent a cross from the left side and found a wide-open David Cornwell in the middle of the box, who scored the lone goal of the match with a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal, giving FDU all it would need on the night.
Over the first 45 minutes, the Knights outshot Mountain Hawks, 6-4, and led in corner kicks, 3-2.
FDU had more opportunities in the second half, as it took four shots during the first 18 minutes of action after halftime. Off a free kick from near midfield in the 70th minute, sophomore Tchamy Dantse Dantse just missed scoring his first career goal, but his header just sailed above the goal.
Near the end of the 85th minute, Lehigh had a great opportunity, but Lissek was able to turn away a shot from point-break range to keep the Knights ahead. Before making his save at the end of the match, Lissek also turned away a shot in the 89th minute. For the match, Lissek made five saves to give him 10 saves and two shutouts through the first two matches of the season.
For the contest, FDU held the overall advantage in shots, 15-9, and corner kicks, 6-2.
"I thought we played well tonight and got off to a fast start scoring a great goal within the first 30 seconds," Head Coach Seth Roland said. "We possessed the ball better than we have yet this year, which was good to see. We created some opportunities, but we have to do better with our final pass just before our attempted goal or actually finishing our chances. Two cleans sheets in a row is not a terrible thing. We are defending reasonably well as a team, our mentality has been pretty good, and it's good to get our second win in a row and a win in our home opener."
The Knights will look to move to 3-0 on the season when they host Princeton on Friday, Sept. 6. Kickoff at University Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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