NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's soccer team earned their third consecutive win of the season Friday afternoon, defeating the Yale Bulldogs by a final mark of 2-0.
Redshirt junior Ahu Obhakhan tallied both goals and redshirt freshman Tiago Capela earned his first victory as a member of the Knights, turning in an impressive eight-save shutout in his debut for the FDU.
"To be honest, we escaped with a win today because Yale outplayed us," head coach Seth Roland said. "They are a good team that will definitely win games. However, to win 2-0 today showed tremendous character by our guys because, even though we were not at our best, we nevertheless problem-solved a way to win the game."
The Bulldogs enjoyed a stretch of offensive pressure and a handful of scoring chances in the game's early moments and managed to control play for much of the opening half.
Midfielder Josh Totte gathered the ball of the opening kickoff and managed to work it downfield before firing off a strike that sailed over the crossbar. Just over a minute later, Nicky Downs was awarded a corner for Yale, a dangerous opportunity that saw Ryan Matteo push the ball just wide of the post.
Daniel Lasarte answered back with a chance at the eight-minute mark for FDU, however, the Bulldogs maintained their pressure and continued to pepper Lasarte and the Knights backline.
Capela was tested yet again at the 37 minute on a screaming header from Will Emerson, however, the redshirt freshman gathered the volley calmly in the box.
Although the Bulldogs maintained possession for much of the remainder of the first, however after 45 minutes of play both squads were knotted a 0-0.
And despite the persistence of the Yale attack in the first half, it was Fairleigh Dickinson who broke the stalemate and got on the board first.
Ahu Obhakhan opened the scoring in the 59', tapping in a rebound goal after collecting a loose ball in the box after an initial long volley from outside was saved by Yale keeper Schipper Kees.
The Knights continued to push the pace, however, Yale's tight, physical defensive coverage made prime scoring chances no easy task.
Capela was called on once again to deliver some timely saves, and once again he was right on point. The first year faced a flurry of five shots in the span of 90 seconds, turning away all five in rapid succession to preserve the Knights precious one-goal lead in the 89'.
Spurred on by the exceptional quality of their keeper, the Knights mounted one final counter-attack, and once again it was a family face striking paydirt.
With Yale pressing in the final minute of competition, junior transfer Fredinho Mompremier flicked a short pass downfield to Obhakhan, who sprinted the length of the pitch on a breakaway before slotting home the eventual shot to ice away from the Knights third victory of the season.
Despite an 8-3 disparity in shots on goal, it was FDU who managed to capitalize more on those chances, and, coupled with some incredibly timely heroics in goal, eventually seal away their third consecutive win of the season.
"We stayed solid in the back, and Tiago made several unbelievable saves to keep them off the board. In addition, we proved that we can continue to be dangerous on the attack by scoring two goals against the run of play, and Ahu is absolutely 'en fuego' right now. The reward is that we are 3-0, and the guys can enjoy that feeling for the moment, " Roland said.
