Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's soccer team fell to the FDU Knights on Sunday at Ted Grant Field by a score of 2-1 in Northeast Conference action.

FDU, the defending NEC Tournament Champion and a 2022 NCAA Tournament participant, extended its conference winning streak to six games with the victory.

The Dolphins celebrated "Senior Day" on Sunday by recognizing seniors Jenicah Brown, Danielle Casey and Kiersten Girard with a special ceremony on the field just before kickoff of their final home game.

The Dolphins dictated play in the early portion of the match, but FDU was awarded a penalty kick in the 16^th minute following a collision in the box.

An FDU attacker sent a shot from the spot to the upper left corner of the goal, but Le Moyne goalkeeper Allison Moreau moved to her right and knocked the shot up and over the crossbar for a corner kick.

The score remained tied 0-0 after 45 minutes.

In the 56^th minute, FDU freshman midfielder Katia Cárdaba drove a header into the upper right corner of the Le Moyne goal off a corner kick taken by graduate midfielder Naemi Hausen to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

FDU doubled their lead with just under 22 minutes remaining in the second half when junior forward Kiomy Luperon took a dribble into the right side of the Le Moyne penalty area and sent a pass on the ground to the edge of the six-yard box for freshman midfielder Ana Salas who knocked the ball into the right side of the net with her first touch.

Cárdaba and Salas now each have five goals this season for the Knights.

The Dolphins cut their deficit to 2-1 in the final minute of the match when sophomore forward Avery Maxam sent a pass ahead for Danielle Casey, who cut back to her right just outside the penalty area to evade a defender before sending a shot over the goalkeeper and into the right side of the net.

After scoring two goals during the Dolphins' 2-2 draw at Central Connecticut State on October 15, Casey now has three goals this season. Maxam recorded her first point of the 2023 with an assist on the play.

"Today's game was played in really tough weather conditions. However, it was great to see both teams put on good performances. It made for an entertaining game for the fans. Both teams created enough chances to score goals and we felt that we did enough to at least come out with a tie from this game," said Le Moyne head coach Jaro Zawislan. "We started the game very well with the high press that was well executed. We got quite a few opportunities out of that high press in the final third of the field. Where we needed to be better was with the final pass and finishing touch to capitalize on those opportunities.

"In the second half, going one and two goals behind, it was still very good to see a great reaction by our team, and our players played hard until the final moments of the game, chasing the result. The outcome of that drive and determination was a quality late goal that we scored. We felt at the end of the game we generated a lot of momentum, had the game gone on a little bit longer we felt we were putting ourselves in a good position to tie it. We are going to use that positive momentum from the end of the game to prepare ourselves for the final regular season game at Sacred Heart.

"For the second game in a row, our team competed very well with one of the top teams in the conference in FDU, who is the defending NEC Tournament Champion and an NCAA Tournament participant from last year," added Zawislan.

Le Moyne, which recorded a 2-2 draw at second-place CCSU during its last time out, created a scoring opportunity with just under 29 minutes remaining in the first half. Following an FDU corner kick the Dolphins went on a quick counterattack. The ball was headed to graduate midfielder Marissa Lisikatos, who carried the ball across midfielder and into Le Moyne's attacking third before sending a pass to her left into the path of sophomore midfielder Lindsey LeBlanc.

LeBlanc took a touch into the penalty area then tried to evade FDU goalkeeper Marie Jakobsen, who came off her line and went to ground to challenge LeBlanc. Jakobsen was able to knock the ball away and then clear it out of bounds for a Le Moyne throw in.

In the 24^th minute Lisikatos dribbled up the right side of the field and hit a shot that skipped towards goal and was saved by Jakobsen.

In the 76^th minute Maxam drove a pass up the left wing for junior forward Autumn Edwards, who took a touch in the penalty area and split two defenders before hitting a shot that went wide of the right post.

The Dolphins will play their final game of the campaign on Thursday, October 26 at Sacred Heart.