Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer team fell to LIU Brooklyn in the semifinals of the Northest Conference Tournament on Friday, 2-1 in double overtime, to end their season. The Knights finish the season with a record of 8-8-4 (4-1-3 NEC), while the Blackbirds will go on to face the hosts and No. 1 seed Saint Francis University on Sunday afternoon.

The first 15 minutes of the match saw few chances created except for a screaming free kick off the right foot of junior Kasey Schiavoni (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) that hit the crossbar. With FDU playing into the wind, LIU Brooklyn found themselves controlling the tempo of the match in the first half. Several shots came from the Blackbirds before the opening goal.

In the 24th minute, NEC Rookie of the Year and All-NEC Second Teamer Jenn Peters had space near the sideline about 30 yards out and decided to fire a shot at goal. The ball sailed high and fast and knuckled several times, which challenged senior Sage DoVale (Lilburn, Ga./Collins Hill) in goa,l who wasn't able to get enough on it and deflect it away. The goal was Peters' seventh of the season to extend her point total on the season to 18.

The rest of the first half saw few chances or shots on goal. LIU had seven shots at halftime compared to FDU's two.

With the wind at their backs, the Knights dominated possession and the tempo of the game almost from the whistle to start the second half. FDU would stay in the Blackbirds' half for much of the remaining time except for a few counter attacks, which were either stifled by terrific FDU defense or had shots saved expertly by DoVale.

The Knights would continue to press forward and pressure consistently, getting numerous shots off that were either high, wide, saved or blocked by defenders. Gabrielle Gibson (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South), Mackenzie Reese (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area ), Kasey Schiavoni (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy), Elizabeth Langer (Clinton, N.J./Voorhees) and Carly Tice (Highland Falls, N.Y./James I. O'Neill ) all came close.

The pressure built to a crescendo in the 78th minute when Schiavoni delivered the fifth corner of the half. LIU goalkeeper Jessica Sexton collided with Gibson in midair and the ball fell beyond the pack of players to an onrushing Amanda Goulet (Quebec City, Quebec/Shattuck-St. Mary's ), who calmly placed it into a wide-open net for the crucial equalizer. Goulet's clever run around the defense provided her the opportunity to score her sixth goal of the season, which gave her the team lead in that category.

The final 10 minutes were filled with tension for both sides but proved uneventful. To demonstrate FDU's second-half dominance, they had 14 shots compared to LIU's three, did not allow an opposing corner and forced Sexton into make seven saves - all in the second half alone.

The first overtime proved even tenser but again uneventful, although FDU did enjoy the majority of possession. The game seemed destined for penalty kicks until a Blackbird counter finished with junior Jenn Spicer laying the ball off 25 yards out to senior Shino Kunisawa, who smacked an unstoppable bullet into the lower-left corner for the golden goal. It was her second straight game-winning goal and fourth goal on the season.The assist turns out to be Spicer's first of the season.

Schiavoni had a game-high seven shots and was a terror all game long on the left flank. FDU held the advantage in shots with 20 as opposed to LIU's 12. DoVale made four saves in her final match for FDU, finishing tied for the career record in clean sheets with 14.

It has been a truly remarkable season in Coach Rick Stainton's first full season. Picked to finish 8th in the conference, the Knights compiled their second-best NEC record ever en route to a second-place regular season finish and No. 2 seed in their fourth NEC tournament.

Congratulations to everyone involved on a fantastic season!