Brookville, N.Y. - On Friday, the 14th-ranked
and top-seeded LIU Post men's soccer team won its second East Coast
Conference crown in as many years, blanking No. 3 seed Dowling by a
3-0 final in Brookville, N.Y. Sophomore midfielder Per Forgaard
(Stavanger, Norway) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the
championship.
Though the opening stanza saw a combined one shot on goal between
the two squads, the intensity picked up for the Pioneers (17-1-2)
in the latter session. It resulted in three second-half tallies by
the hosts in a 10-minute stretch.
LIU Post, despite Dowling (11-4-3) recording eight of the period's
first 10 shots, got on the board first in the 79th minute. Junior
forward Eivind Austboe (Stavanger, Norway) headed a cross, which
originated from left of the box by senior back Eirik Bjoernoe
(Randaberg, Norway), just inside of the right post to give the
Pioneers a 1-0 advantage.
Less than nine minutes later, the green and gold extended their
lead. On the counter, senior forward Cemil Turan(Staten Island,
N.Y.) played the ball to a trailing Johann Kristjansson (Reykjavik,
Iceland), who ripped a shot from 20 yards out into the right-side
netting, making it a 2-0 game.
LIU Post would wrap up the afternoon's scoring in the dwindling
seconds. After Bjoernoe had a penalty kick attempt turned away,
Austboe settled the rebound, and followed up for his second marker
of the game.
For the match, the Pioneers owned a 12-11 edge in shots, and a
favorable 5-2 margin in corner kicks. Austboe led all players with
four shots. Mike Gronenthal (Levittown, N.Y.) paced Dowling with
three shots.
Between the pipes, senior keeper Marco Jorgensen (Copenhagen,
Denmark) made four saves for the hosts. His counterpart, Chris
Friedl (Port Jefferson, N.Y.), stopped two of five attempts.
Head Coach Andreas Lindberg and the Pioneers now await their
seeding in the upcoming NCAA Division II Championship. The
tournament field will be released on NCAA.com early next week.
Provided by the LIU Post Sports Information Department.
