Fairleigh Dickinson Downs St. Francis (NY) 3-0
Hurtado scores twice as Knights clinch share of NEC regular season title.

Teaneck, N.J. – Junior forward Dirceu Hurtado (Totowa, N.J.) had a hand in all three goals as the Fairleigh Dickinson University (12-6-0, 8-2-0 NEC) men’s soccer team defeated visiting St. Francis-NY (5-10-1, 4-6-0 NEC), 3-0, and clinched at least a share of the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title, their second straight.  The Knights closed out the regular season with five straight wins, eight wins in the last nine and eight consecutive league victories as they head into next weekend’s conference tournament. The winner of the NEC Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“Today we found a way to win another game,” said Knights’ head coach Seth Roland. “We should be proud of what we have achieved.  After a 0-2 start in the league we reeled off eight straight wins and that’s a great accomplishment.  Now Monday we start preparing for bigger things.”

Neither team could find the net through the first 63 minutes, but the Knights got a kick-start at 63:09 when Hurtado found junior forward Aaron Paye (Brooklyn Center, N.Y.) who fired a one-time full volley from 25 yards out in the upper right corner.  Just over three minutes later Hurtado was taken down from behind in the box and successfully converted the penalty kick to give Fairleigh Dickinson a 2-0 lead.  Hurtado scored again at 68:55 on a feed from freshman midfielder Joe DiBuono (Montreal, Quebec) to seal the victory.

Fairleigh Dickinson goalkeeper Vytautas Lenkutis (Vilnius, Lithuania) made four saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season and tenth of his career.  His counterpart Waldo Diaz (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made two saves for the Terriers.

Fairleigh Dickinson returns to action on Friday, November 9^th, at the NEC Tournament to be held at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.  The Knights, defending NEC Tournament champs, will have to wait on tomorrow’s result of the Robert Morris/St. Francis (Pa.) match to see if they will be the number one or two seed.  If St. Francis (Pa) wins, Fairleigh Dickinson will hold the regular season title outright and earn the top seed.  If Robert Morris wins, the Colonials and Knights will share the regular season title, but Robert Morris will take the top seed by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker.

                                                                   1^st           2^nd              F
St. Francis-NY (5-10-1, 4-6-0 NEC)            0                0                0
Fairleigh Dickinson (12-6-0, 8-2-0 NEC)      0                3                3

Scoring
63:09       FDU – Aaron Paye (Dirceu Hurtado)
66 :15      FDU – Dirceu Hurtado (Penalty Kick)
68:55       FDU – Dirceu Hurtado (Joe DiBuono)

Shots:  FDU – 13; SFNY - 9
Corners:  FDU – 6; SFNY – 3
Saves:  FDU – Vytautas Lenkutis 4 sv/90 min
             SFNY – Waldo Diaz  2 sv/90 min                       
Fouls:  FDU – 12; SFNY – 17
Yellow Cards:  FDU – NONE; SFNY – Emil Krzyskow; Red Cards:  None

* * * KNIGHTS * * * 

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