Sophomore midfielder Oskar Tilly (Karlstad, Sweden) and freshman striker Matt Paradise (Pittsburgh, PA) have made an immediate impact for the resurgent LIU men’s soccer team and were rewarded today by being named the Northeast Conference Player and Rookie of the Week.

Tilly garnered the award based on his sterling performance Sunday that enabled the Blackbirds (2-1-1, 1-0 NEC) to upset defending Northeast Conference champion Fairleigh Dickinson, 3-1. LIU rallied to tie the contest when sophomore David Schofield (Preston, England) lifted a crossing pass inside the box that Tilly fired between the pipes for his first collegiate goal.

It was just the beginning for Tilly, who became the first Blackbird to win Player-of-the-Week honors since Rafael Solano on September 14, 1998. LIU grabbed an insurmountable two-goal cushion in the 75th minute when Tilly took a feed from senior Kristoffer Engdahl (Stockholm, Sweden) and tucked it just inside the left post.

The win helped the Blackbirds move within one victory of last season’s total and snap a three-game winless streak against the Knights. Tilly, one of eight newcomers in the starting lineup, is third for the Blackbirds this season with four points, trailing Paradise (6) and junior Ricardo Jerome (5).

Tilly arrived in downtown Brooklyn from sister school Southampton College, where he started all 17 games he appeared in last season. Tilly finished with a goal and three assists, leading the Colonials to a 13-3-2 overall mark and a 7-0-1 finish to win the NYCAC championship.

In Wednesday’s game against Temple, Paradise scored LIU’s second goal to help lift the team from a two-goal deficit to a 4-3 double-overtime win. In Sunday victory, Paradise netted the go-ahead goal with 1:12 remaining in the first half. Paradise also leads the Blackbirds with three goals.

Paradise finished with 26 goals and 30 assists as a senior at Plum H.S. last year and was a first team all-state selection. The regional All-American also was named to the Region 1 ODP pool as a member of the Western Pennsylvania Olympic Development Team.

The Blackbirds return to action Wednesday, when they host Dartmouth at 3:00 pm. The game will be played at the Metropolitan Oval in Queens while LIU Field is having FieldTurf installed.