Playing without its top defender, No. 4 seed Long Island put forth one of its best efforts of the year but yielded two pentitley-kick goals in a heartbreaking 2-1 quadruple-overtime loss to second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in the Northeast Conference final at Hamden, CT.

The Blackbirds (8-7-4) had their backs against the wall before the opening kickoff as standout freshman back Jonas Stigh (Trollhatten, Sweden) could not play due to an accumulation of cards.

Stigh's absence was present on the first goal from the Knights (14-6) as Taffarie Laing dribbled through the defense before being taken down in the box. Orce Kozeski booted home the pentitley kick in the 28th minute to open the scoring.

LIU countered two minutes later. Freshman Matt Paradise (Pittsburgh, PA) sent a perfect pass through the defense to sophomore Oskar Tilly (Karlstad, Sweden), who booted it inside the right post for his seventh goal of the season.

The remainder of the contest was a tenacious battle that saw each team fight for possession and have its chances for the title. Sophomore goalkeeper Eric Masters (Carmel, IN) kept the Blackbirds in the contest on a spectacular diving save late in the second overtime off a shot from Johnny David.

Despite being outshot 11-9 in the overtimes, FDU would prevail in the 142nd minute. Senior Kristoffer Engdahl (Stockholm, Sweden) pulled Aaron Paye, who was dribbling into the box, to earn a pentitley kick. Kozeski booted it home to end the longest game in NEC history.

LIU owned an 18-14 shot advantage as sophomore David Schofield (Preston, England), playing heroically despite injury, closed with three shots. The defense held their own without Stigh and limited the number of opportunities for FDU.

The Blackbirds finished a tremendous season in which they almost tripled last year's win total (three) and just missed their first conference crown since 1997.