Box Score TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team could not overcome a two-goal deficit in the first half and fell to Bryant, 2-1, on Sunday in Northeast Conference action at a very blustery University Stadium. With the victory, the Bulldogs collect three points and improve to 8-4-3 (4-0-2 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 3-12-2 (1-4-1 NEC) overall.
Bryant scored a pair of unassisted goals over the first 45 minutes, with the first one coming off a FDU turnover in its box. Lucas Guerriero took advantage and found the back of the net for the early 1-0 advantage 13 minutes in.
In the 37th minute, Zach Bleau-Prevost dribbled down the left flank and then fired a shot from about 10 yards out past Knights' goalkeeper
Matthew Weigner (Warrington, Pa/Central Bucks South) towards the lower-left corner for the eventual match winner.
The Bulldogs outshot the hosts, 8-0, in the first half, but FDU came out of the break strong.
Of the Knights' 10 second- half shots, it was junior
Christian Dietrich (Berlin, Germany/Flatow-Oberschule)'s 66th minute effort that pulled one back for FDU. Dietrich capped off some brilliant ball movement in the attacking third that finished with
Enver Caymaz (Pompton Lakes, N.J./Pompton Lakes) laying the ball off to the German international, who made no mistake with his left foot from 12 yards out.
The Knights had a flurry of late chances to equalize, starting with Caymaz's volley in the 84th minute but his shot dragged just wide to the left of goal. Three minutes later, junior left back
Sam Durkot (Centereach, N.Y./Newfield) powered a low driven free kick that rattled off the left post and fell to senior
Godfred Baafi (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack ), whose header missed narrowly wide right.
Bryant goalkeeper Chris Knaub was forced to make four saves, all in the second half, while Weigner stopped a pair, including a highlight-reel save off of Marco Addonizio's 20-yard strike in the 80th minute. Overall, the Bulldogs led in shots, 11-10, with the home team holding a massive 10-3 advantage over the final 45 minutes.
"I'm proud of how we competed the last 30 minutes of today's game," Head Coach
Seth Roland said. "We slept-walked through the first 60 minutes, but maybe Bryant having had a bye on Friday night had something to do with that. But with 30 minutes to go, we simply took over and played great soccer, while making it 2-1. What happened with four minutes to go encapsulates the frustration of our season in that Sam (Durkot) hit a great free kick that hit the post, and we put the rebound just wide. It's just been one of those kinds of years, I'm afraid. But we showed good character coming back to make it a game today."
FDU finishes the season on Sunday, Nov. 9 by hosting Sacred Heart. As of now the match is scheduled for 1 p.m. but will be moved back to 5 p.m. with the NEC Women's Soccer Tournament championship being contested at University Stadium that day.
