The Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to edge Robert Morris, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in Moon Township, PA. The Knights have now won three-straight matches and are 2-0 in Northeast Conference for the first time since 2008. With the victory, the Knights improve to 6-2-1 (2-0-0 NEC) on the season, while the Colonials fall to 4-4-1 (0-2-0 NEC) overall.
The Colonials took control in the third minute of the match when Daniel Calabretta took the ball deep down the left side of the field before cutting along the endline. His pass to the center of the box found Miro Cabrillo, who turned over his right shoulder before putting a shot to the right side of the net, beating Knights' goalie Jacob Lissek.
Despite being down 1-0, FDU outshot RMU, 7-6, in the opening 45 minutes.
In the 60th minutes, freshman Anders Vest-Hansen played an indirect kick from 40 yards out 12 yards deep into the box. Sophomore Nicholas Walker rose above the crowd and flicked a header to the right side netting to tie the game at one with 30 minutes to play. The goal was the first of the season for Walker.
Five minutes later in the match, a giveaway by RMU immediately led to a Knights' goal as Vest-Hansen picked up the loose ball 30 yards from the goal and unleashed a blast that tickled the upper right corner of the net to give FDU a 2-1 lead. The goal was Vest-Hansen's first of his career.
The Knights were able to hold on over the final 25 minutes to secure the victory.
FDU outshot RMU, 6-4, in the second half to hold a 13-10 advantage. Seven of the attempts were on goal.
Lissek made four saves in net to improve his record to 6-2-1 on the season. Toba Boljai made five save for the Colonials.
"We showed a tremendous amount of heart today giving up an early goal and fighting back to score two in the second half to win the game," said Head Coach Seth Roland. "We stayed calm and positive even after giving up the goal and started to find our rhythm 20 minutes in to the match. Anders asisint on Nicholas' goal and then scoring the winner with a great left-footed shot really inspired us. To bring six points back home with us on this trip is not an easy thing to do."
With the victory, Roland tied former Knights' coach Ben Stravato (1978-89) for the most wins in school history with 154.
The Knights will look to extend their winning streak to four when they host Mount St. Mary's this Friday, Oct. 7. Kick-off at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.