TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team poured in five goals, including four in the second half, to defeat Mount St. Mary's, 5-0, and in the process secured a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament.
 
The Knights (7-8-2, 3-4-2 NEC) need a win plus some help from NEC rivals to earn their third straight trip to the NEC Tournament. Two goals from freshman Ville Ahola as well as scores by Adrian Barajas, Jared Dillon and senior Gabriele Lanzani led to the Knights taking care of their need to win, and with losses by both St. Francis Brooklyn and Robert Morris, FDU moved ahead of both teams and into fourth place in the NEC standings with 11 points.
 
With the win, FDU moves on to face the top overall seed and host Saint Francis U in Friday's NEC Semifinal game at 1:30 p.m., in Loretto, Pa.
 
"We did a good job today, and luckily the other two results we needed went our way," head coach Seth Roland said after the game. "Happy for the guys that we made it into the playoffs. Not the position we wanted to be in coming into this game, but we did what we needed to do and got a little help."
 
Junior goalkeeper Jahmali Waite recorded his third shutout of the season, making saves on seven shots, including six in the second half. Junior Diego Arribas assisted on each of the first three goals for FDU.
 
The Mountaineers (7-10, 3-6 NEC) took two of the first three shots of the match but could not generate much against a FDU defense that limited them to just one shot on goal in the first 45 minutes. Ahola registered FDU's first try on goal with a left-footed shot that required a save in the 23rd minute, and ten minutes later, the freshman broke through with help from a leading pass by Arribas to net the contest's first goal.
 
FDU carried its 1-0 lead into halftime and did not take long to add to its lead. Freshman Peter Kozlej passed up ahead to Arribas in the 48th minute, and the junior crossed from left to right over to Barajas, who lined a hard shot into the upper right corner of the net for his second goal of the year.
 
Waite then made a couple of big saves over the next 2o minutes to help FDU keep its advantage, and the Knights continued to press for more goals. A great attempt from Dillon in the 71st minute hit off the crossbar, but Arribas collected the rebound and redirected to Dillon who then fired another shot that did cross the line for his second goal of the season as well.
 
Lanzani, who had yet to record a point in his FDU career, then played helper to the fourth goal for the Knights a minute later when Ahola struck a ball with his right foot past the diving Mount keeper. The senior concluded his big day then with his first career goal, finishing a shot with his right foot off a pass from Dillon.
 
"That was a lot of fun and I'm happy for him and all the guys who this means so much to get into the playoffs," Roland said. "Now we're all 0-0 and we have a tough challenge on Friday, but hopefully we'll be up to it."
 
The Knights before the game held a Senior Day ceremony honoring Lanzani as well as seniors Quentie Kyeremateng, Daniel Lasarte and Wojciech Piwowarczyk.
 
Friday's semifinal will mark the first time the Knights will face the Red Flash in the NEC Tournament since FDU last won the NEC title in 2012 on penalty kicks, later that season advancing to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
 
"It's good to still be playing, and we're looking forward to playing Saint Francis University in the semifinals," Roland concluded.