TEANECK, N.J. – Second half goals from Kristina Neri and Jessi Reinhardt propelled the Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer past Bryant 2-1 on Saturday and into the Northeast Conference Championship game.
 
The top-seeded Knights will take on No. 2 seed Saint Francis U in the final as the Red Flash topped No. 3 seed Central Connecticut in the other semifinal on Friday. The championship game will be at 12 p.m. on Sunday at University Stadium.
 
Neri tied the game for Fairleigh Dickinson (9-8-3) in the 47th minute when the senior deflected in a Reinhardt free kick that came in from the right that found Neri at the back post for the tap it in. The goal is Neri's fifth of the season – all coming in the last three games. Reinhardt's helper was her eighth of 2017.
 
With the Knights controlling play, Reinhardt provided the game-winner in the 65th minute. The Germany native flicked on a free kick from Dara Battistoni that hit the base of the left post and went in to give the Knights the lead. The service from Battistoni came in from near midfield.
 
Fourth-seeded Bryant (10-5-2), who scored first in the 38th minute through Kylie Ratelle, had numerous chances to tie the game but Amanda Fitzgerald stopped all three shots that came on goal to keep Bryant from getting back level.
 
Fitzgerald finished with 11 saves, which are a season-high, on the afternoon. Six of those stops occurred in the first half as the Knights were finding themselves under a lot of pressure from the Bulldogs. One stop came against Hannah Crofut on a breakaway in the 23rd minute to keep the game scoreless. Fitzgerald was then called upon three times in a span two minutes and made all three stops before Bryant's goal in the 38th.
 
The 11 stops give Fitzgerald 211 for her career, which establishes a new program record.
 
 "Bryant put us under a lot of pressure," said head coach Eric Teepe after the win. "And in some respects, Amanda saved the game for us in the game in the first half and allowed us to come back with more emotion and fire in the second half."
 
Bryant outshot Fairleigh Dickinson 20-9 in the game and forced Fitzgerald to make those 11 saves with 12 shots on goal. Fairleigh Dickinson was able to get two past Meghan Dalton in the second half on seven shots.
 
Teepe added, "At the end of the day, I thought we were lucky with the result due to us capitalizing on our chances – of the few we had – and Amanda was big for us in the back."
 
Fairleigh Dickinson seeks the program's second NEC Championship on Sunday when they battle the Red Flash. It will be the fourth straight year the two sides have met in the postseason.