BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team dropped the opening matchup of the Peter Baldwin Memorial Classic Friday evening against the University of Vermont by a final score of 4-0. The loss moves the Knights to 2-2-1 on the season.
FDU returns to action Sunday afternoon when they take on Saint Peter's at 1:00 p.m.
"We were beaten by a very good team tonight," head coach Seth Roland said. "It's easy to see why they gave #2 Duke all they could handle in their 3-2 loss in NC. They are extremely dangerous in transition and overpowering in how they counter attack. Hopefully we can learn the valuable hard lessons that a loss to a very good team can bring, which hopefully we will see on Sunday versus Saint Peter's".
Keeper Jahmali Waite provided the bulk of the hi-lights for FDU in the opening half of play, coming up big on a number of high-quality chances from the Catamounts offense.
Just five minutes in, Geo Alves collected a ball at the top of the box before calmly turning and firing a hard strike that would have made things 1-nil had Waite not gotten a hand on it with an excellent diving effort.
After stopping another flurry of saves in the 13', Waite punched away a corner before the Knights offense began to generate chances of their own.
Fredinho Mompremier was the most dangerous player of the first for FDU, nearly caping off a beautiful run up the left wing with a goal, however his strike curled wide. Mompremier took the ball in his own third of the field before coming down the left side, beating two defenders one-on-one with a third hanging on his back the entire time.
UVM's response was quick, however, and they soon took a 1-0 lead after Alves chased down a long pass from his back line, beating Waite to the bouncing ball before deftly deflecting it over his head and into a wide open net for a goal.
Vermont continued to press. Waite and the Knights did not concede again before the first half expired.
Things picked up right where they left off, however, with Waite stemming the tide of another aggressive attack from UVM while Mompremier continued to create chances offensively for the Knights.
Waite made another nice stop on Alves again in the 55' after the forwards diving effort was snuffed out on the near post.
Mompremier's best look came several minutes later when he collected the ball and fired a curling strike from 30 yards out that caught the crossbar and bounced out to keep things 1-0.
Justin Friedas made in 2-0 in the 61' after outrunning another long pass and neatly tucking it behind Waite and inside the far post. The Catamounts sealed away the win with insurance markers in the 76' and 78' to make it a 4-0 final.
