TEANECK, N.J. -  The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's soccer team earned a 1-1 draw against LIU Brooklyn Monday evening at University Stadium.  The tie moves the Knights to 9-4-3 on the season, including a 2-2-2 mark in NEC Conference play.  The Knights will return to action on Friday, November 3rd when they head out to Fairfield, Connecticut for their final regular season match of the year against Sacred Heart.

Goalkeeper Jahmali Waite stopped three of four shots on goal on the evening.  Jacob Labovitz provided the goal scoring for FDU, his sixth of the season.  

"I thought we played pretty well tonight," head coach Seth Roland said.  "We came out and scored a great goal early on, but then fell into more of a defensive posture as the game went on.  LIU is a good ball-possession team, and I thought we gave them a little too much of that."

The game started on an emotional note for the Knights, as seniors Jamie Leddy, Itai Erez, and Casey Abelein were honored in a pregame ceremony for their contributions over the years to the FDU program in their final appearance at University Stadium.  

That emotion continued into the first half, where It didn't take long for the Knights to capitalize. 

After avoiding a close call in their own box just a minute in, FDU struck back on the counter attack, racing down the pitch with possession and putting the LIU defense on their heels. 

After a spell of possession, Daniel Lasarte gathered the ball down the left-wing side before threading a perfect pass into the top of the box, where a waiting Jacob Labovitz separated himself from his defensive marker before collecting the pass and firing a low strike into the lower left-hand corner of the net to give FDU a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the game. 

The Knights kept up the pace for a while, however slowly but surely LIU began to press back, enjoying extended spells of possession for much of the first.  Filip Nordstrom and Rasmus Hansen each earned dangerous looks inside the six-yard box, however they could not solve Waite and the FDU back line, who managed to keep them off the score sheet for the entirety of the first half. 

The Blackbirds came close to leveling in the opening moments of the second half when Chris Solbakken snuck behind the Knights back line inside the box and fired unimpeded at the Knights goal.  Although it initially looked like Solbakken had Waite dead to rights, the keeper somehow managed to make a sprawling desperation save, diving to towards the far side of the net to get a hand on the shot and keep it out.  

After surviving a corner in the 56', LIU finally managed to convert on a chance when Solbakken took a pass into the box and fired a low shot of his own past a stretched out Waite to make it even at 1-1.  

"After they scored I thought we picked it up again and played well," Roland said.  "We got some fresh legs in and I thought we started to take the game to them in the second half and into overtime."

Both squads continued to trade chances for the remainder of the second, however both the Knights and Blackbirds remained composed and organized on defense and things headed into the extra frame still knotted at one goal apiece.  

Although Labovitz enjoyed a number of solid looks in both overtime frames, neither team was able to convert on a second chance and the match ended a 1-1 draw. 

"It was a little bad luck to not come up with a winner in overtime, but a tie is a fair result in this case," Roland said.