STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer team recorded its best offensive output of the season to earn its fourth straight victory, defeating Wagner 6-2 Sunday afternoon.
The Knights (6-7-3, 4-1-1 NEC) tallied three goals in each half to earn the road win. With the victory, they move into sole possession of second place in the Northeast Conference standings. The four-match win streak is the longest since winning their first four NEC matches last season, and the six goals were the most scored since 2015's 7-4 victory over Saint Francis U.
"Anytime you can win on the road, you are happy with it," said head coach
Eric Teepe after the match. "If we can put six goals in, that's always going to be a positive as well. We were very good finishing even though we didn't create as many chances as I think maybe in past games. Our success rate was much better. Wagner fought until the end, you have to give them a lot of credit even after we pulled away at the end, still challenging every ball. We have to understand that you step on the field with that commitment to win, but the fact that we finished is good."
Sophomore
Sofia Albertsson and freshman
Madelyn Robbins led the Knights on the attack. Albertsson scored two of the six goals, her first multi-goal game of the season, and assisted on Robbins' score in the second half as well. Robbins led the Knights with two assists to go with her goal.
"For Sofia, I know she has been pressing and wants to score, and we've talked to her about it being a matter of being dangerous," Teepe said. "If you're dangerous, the goals are going to come. With her getting a couple today, maybe that will lessen the pressure that she puts on herself. And Maddie means so much to us in the midfield, the fact that she set up a couple and finished one of her own, it was a great game."
The Knights gained four corner kick opportunities early in the match and tried two quality shots in those chances. Miseljic connected for a header off the second corner that missed wide. On the third corner, freshman
Noam Kedem received a deflected ball in the box and moved to shoot with her left foot, but her shot was blocked before reaching the goalkeeper.
The Seahawks did not attempt a shot until the 20th minute, but that first shot earned them a 1-0 lead off a header on a corner kick.
FDU, however, did not take long to counter, as it only took two minutes for Albertsson to find the back of the net off a mishandled ball by the Wagner goalkeeper, tying the match at 1-1.
Not long after the first score, freshman
Madelyn Robbins weaved her way through the Wagner defense and played a nice pass to Miseljic, who beat the keeper with a shot into the lower right corner of the net to make it 2-1 FDU.
The Knights continued to press on offense and earned another corner kick with Robbins finding the foot of Albertsson. The sophomore fired a hard shot into top of the net for her second score of the match, making it 3-1 Knights in the 26th minute.
Junior goalkeeper
Amanda Fitzgerald saved two Wagner shots to preserve the 3-1 lead heading into halftime, with one of her saves requiring a full-extension dive to her right to bat the ball out of harm's way.
The FDU defensive backfield of Kedem, senior
Julia Shea, junior
Samantha Roff and freshman
Christa Waterman blocked a couple of Seahawk shots early in the second half, and the team continued to build on attacking chances. Senior
Elma Kolenovic almost notched a goal of her own in the 59th minute with a hard shot on target.
It was Robbins, however, that earned the fourth goal for Knights one minute later. The freshman collected a pass from Albertsson in the midfield and lined a shot past the keeper for her first career goal and her fourth point of the match.
Wagner responded with another score off a set piece in the 67th minute to cut the FDU lead to two, but the Knights bared down on defense the rest of the way, denying Wagner any further shot opportunities.
The Knights added a fifth score in the 81st minute when Miseljic sent a cross over the middle that a Wagner defender redirected into the net for an own goal. Sophomore
Alyssa Caggiano then netted her first goal of the season in the closing minutes, with assists by sophomores
Chloe Chefero and
Gabby Garcia.
"We're being a little more successful and risk-taking, and we're finding ways to win these games whereas at the beginning of the year it was the opposite," Teepe said. "We're still trying to take it one game at a time, and we still aren't in the playoffs yet. This puts us one step closer, so hopefully now we can say 'look at the next game' and not keep worrying about the tournament. It's good to get wins, always happy about that, but it's not enough yet."
Albertsson's five points improves her season total to 11 and her career total to 33, 14th on FDU's all-time list just ahead of Miseljic, whose goal gave her 31 career points. Miseljic improved to a team-high 14 points on the season.
Fitzgerald finished the match with only the two first-half saves in earning her 20th goalie victory of her career.
The Knights return home to University Stadium for their next contest when they face Saint Francis U in a rematch of last season's NEC title game. That game is scheduled for Saturday, October 20 at 3 p.m.
