Long Island women beat Fairleigh Dickinson

Teaneck, N.J. - The Long Island University women's soccer team posted its seventh straight shutout and senior Brittany Schandelmayer scored in overtime to hold off Fairleigh Dickinson, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at Campus Field. The Blackbirds continued their program-best start to the season and improved to 10-1-2 overall and 4-0-1 in Northeast Conference play.

Despite dominating the offensive field where LIU had a 21-8 advantage in shots, the Blackbirds could not crack the Fairleigh Dickinson defense until the 95th minute. The game-winner came off of a corner kick by junior Sarah Laughlin. Her kick settled into traffic in front of FDU's goal and eventually came out to Schandelmayer who controlled the ball from the left-side, just inside the 18-yard box. Her shot eluded the Knights' defense and sealed another shutout win for LIU.

The Blackbirds had the upper-hand in possession all afternoon and pressured the Knights' defense from the outset. Junior Ariana Calderon had a shot in the second minute of play, but Stephanie Tanzi made one of her eight saves on the day as FDU was able to hold off LIU for much of the game.

In the second half, Fairleigh Dickinson (0-12, 0-4 NEC) had a pair of chances to score, but came away empty-handed. Natasha Clark and Rashidah Sherman each had a respective shot early and late in the half that tested freshman Jessica Sexton, but in both instances she made excellent saves en route to her sixth shutout of the year.

LIU held a 4-0 margin in corner kicks as its defense was stout in putting up its 10th shutout of the year. The Blackbirds also improved to an impressive 7-0-1 in road contests in 2010.

The Blackbirds host Columbia in a non-conference contest on Tuesday evening, Oct. 12.