Syracuse, N.Y. – The LIU Sharks scored two second-half goals to register a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Le Moyne College men's soccer team on Thursday afternoon at Ted Grant Field in the regular-season finale for both sides.

With the win, LIU moved ahead of Le Moyne in the NEC Standings and claimed the third seed in the NEC Tournament. The Sharks will travel to Loretto to take on second-seeded Saint Francis in the conference postseason semifinals on November 14, while the fourth-seeded Dolphins will visit top-seeded FDU in a rematch of the 2023 NEC Tournament Quarterfinals match between the two programs in Teaneck.

The Le Moyne men's soccer program has now earned an appearance in its conference tournament in 23 consecutive seasons.

Le Moyne concludes the regular season with a 7-5-4 record, including 4-3-1 in NEC play and 4-2-3 at Ted Grant Field.

How It Happened:
Le Moyne struck first against the defending NEC Tournament champions with a goal in the fourth minute. Redshirt-freshman midfielder Diego Martinez (Veracruz, Mexico/Gulf Coast (Fla.)) sent a long pass in the air towards the right side of the penalty area for freshman forward Rhys Allport (Wirral, England/Reaseheath), who brought the ball down and dropped off a pass for redshirt-freshman defender Vito Kreuzpaintner (Munich, Bavaria, Germany/FOS Nord/UNC Wilmington).

Kreuzpaintner then executed a give-and-go with graduate forward Noah Sperduto (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira), who led Kreuzpaintner with a pass into the right side of the penalty area. Kreuzpaintner evaded a defender then smashed a right-footed shot into the upper left part of the net to record his third goal of the season and put the Dolphins in front, 1-0.

Le Moyne sophomore goalkeeper Wyatt Dupell (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) made a diving save with a little over seven minutes remaining in the first half to help the Dolphins maintain their 1-0 advantage.

The Dolphins nearly doubled their lead in the 44^th minute when redshirt-junior midfielder Ziad Abdul-Malak (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) dribbled into the left side of the LIU penalty area and sent a pass across the box for redshirt-junior forward Jakob Priestman (Leek, England/Westwood/Missouri State) who placed a one-time shot on the ground that was saved off the goal line by a LIU defender.

LIU tied the game in the 63^rd minute when redshirt-freshman defender Christian Blank hit the back of the net following a corner kick taken from the left flag. The Sharks scored again just four minutes later when graduate forward Jesper Mikkelsen tallied his fourth goal of the season with an assist from freshman forward Stephane Njike.

LIU goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski saved two shots from Sperduto in the final 24 minutes to help the Sharks secure the 2-1 conference win. Sperduto tallied a season-best three shots, including a season-high two shots on goal, and registered his fourth assist of the campaign during the win, which ties him for the team lead in the category along with junior forward Cameron Stuart (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) and redshirt-freshman forward Justin Pham (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool/Dayton).

Senior defender Brady McNulty (San Gabriel, Calif./Temple City/Niagara) also recorded a season-high three shots for the Dolphins, including one shot on target.

Dupell, Kreuzpaintner, McNulty, Pham, Allport, Abdul-Malak, and sophomore defender Maximilian Huss (Karben, Germany/Elly-Heuss-Schule) each played the full 90 minutes for Le Moyne.