Brooklyn, NY---The St. Francis College men’s soccer team dropped a pivotal Northeast Conference matchup against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, 3-1, this evening at Aviator Field and Sports Complex. The defeat drops the Terriers to a 9-6-1 overall record and 6-2-1 in the conference. The Knights keep their playoff hopes alive as they improve to 8-8-1 overall and 5-3-1 in conference action.
In the opening minutes of the contest, the Knights midfielder Dominic Reinold scored his first of three goals in the fourth minute of the first half. Reinold, a native of Wesseling, Germany, found the loose ball in the middle of the Terriers defense and blasted the shot past the Terriers’ Chris Antonino, to give Fairleigh a 1-0 advantage. The Knights would take that lead into halftime, after both teams committed a combined 16 fouls in the first half. Both teams took five shots and two corner kicks.
St. Francis would play a flawless second half until in the 78th minute, Reinold would again find the back off the net, as he once again found a seam in the Terriers defense and put back a rebound that he blasted to the bottom left corner of the net, giving the Knights a 2-0 lead.
St. Francis’ forward Atiba Fraser would take two Knights defenders deep in the middle of the field while the Knights’ Serge Zulu had no choice but to foul Fraser. The refs deemed it intentional and Zulu was charged with a yellow card and a penalty kick was awarded to St. Francis.
Sophomore Robbie Weir would be selected to take the penalty shot for the Terriers. The native of Prestwick, Scotland, was 1-for-1 in penalty kicks this season, and would find the back of the goal, cutting the Terriers deficit to 2-1.
The final goal of the contest came three minutes later off a well-played pass by FDU’s Fernando Huthmacher to Reinold as he blasted his third goal past Antonino to give the Knights the victory.
The Terriers will be back in action on Saturday, November 7th, as they close the regular season against local intra-state rival Long Island University at Aviator Sports and Field Complex. It is Senior Day, as prior to the game, the Terriers will honor their six senior classmen in an on-field ceremony.
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By: Brian D. Morales (Assistant SID)