Laing’s Goal Lifts Fairleigh Dickinson Men’s Soccer Past Seton Hall, 1-0
Lenkutis stops 13 shots as Knights advance to NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals vs. North Carolina

South Orange, N.J. - Junior back Taffarie Laing (Scotch Plains, N.J.) scored in the 53^rd minute, and senior goalkeeper Vytautas Lenkutis (Vilnius, Lithuania) stopped a season-high 13 shots as Fairleigh Dickinson advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship with a 1-0 win over Seton Hall on Sunday.  The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 1,563 at Owen T. Carroll Field.  The Knights (17-6-0) advance to the quarterfinals for only the third time in program history and first time since 1984.  They are also the first team in program history to win three times in a NCAA Tournament.

Following a scoreless first half, Fairleigh Dickinson scored the only goal of the match at the 53:08 mark.  Laing carried the ball down the left wing and broke into the left side of the box.  He passed the ball off to junior forward Aaron Paye (Brooklyn Center, Minn.) who eluded a defender and fed a short pass back to Laing.  Laing tapped a shot from seven yards by

Seton Hall goalkeeper Efren Aguirre and into the left side of the net for what would be the game-winner.

“It felt great to score.  You hope it’ll happen in a game like this and it did,” said Laing of only his second goal on the year and third of his career.   “I saw Aaron slashing through the middle and when he slashed I played the ball to his right foot hoping he’d do a little back-heel. He let the ball come through and went to swing it around. I guess everyone was fooled, I got it and scored.”

Seton Hall held a 25-13 advantage in shots and a 15-4 bulge in corner kicks, but the Pirates were unable to beat Lenkutis who made nine of his 13 saves in the second half.  Lenkutis notched his eighth shutout of the year.

The Pirates did threaten in the final minute.  Sophomore forward Ingo Dittel (Hannover, Germany) ran onto a long ball in the Fairleigh Dickinson box and headed a shot just wide of the Knight goal with 20 seconds remaining.

Fairleigh Dickinson, which won its tenth straight game, avenged a 4-1 loss to Seton Hall (12-7-2) from September 26.  The Knights will now play North Carolina in the quarterfinals on Saturday, December 8, at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.  The Tar Heels defeated American 1-0, in overtime on Sunday afternoon.

“We’re competing well and we’re working hard,” said Knights’ head coach Seth Roland.  “Things have been going our way.  I told them in February we have the potential to be good enough to win a couple of games in the NCAA Tournament and then anything can happen. I believed in this team for a long time.  Confidence and momentum are powerful forces of energy and we have those working in our favor.”

Fairleigh Dickinson 1, Seton Hall 0
Fairleigh Dickinson (17-6-0)           0       1 -- 1
Seton Hall (12-7-2)                         0       0 -- 0