The Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team saw its season come to an abrupt end Friday in the semifinals of the Northeast Conference Tournament as host and top-seeded Monmouth defeated the fourth-seeded Knights, 1-0. The Hawks scored an early second half goal and were able to hang on the rest of the way. Monmouth, who is currently ranked 13th in the nation, advances to Sunday's championship match against the winner of the Sacred Heart - Saint Francis PA contest.

Despite the loss, FDU played much better the second time around versus Monmouth as the home squad defeated the Knights, 4-0, in a match one month ago. With the victory the Hawks improve to 13-1-4 on the season, while the Knights conclude their season with a record of 9-7-2.

In first half action, neither team could gain a true advantage. The Knights' defense played extremely well an forced Monmouth into tough shots. Freshman goalkeeper Jacob Lissek made two nice plays on Monmouth corner kicks to prevent any scoring chance. Despite, being outshot by the Hawks, 5-0, the Knights had couple of opportunities to make something happen in the Monmouth zone but were unlucky.

In the 51st minute, the Hawks' Cesar Blacido scored off a rebound on a shot by Ryan Clark that hit the post.

The Knights could really never got their offense going in the game. Freshman Michael Calderon fired a shot minutes after the Monmouth goal, but it was blocked inside the box. The only other shot the Knights took was by senior Kenley Mathurin, which resulted wide-right.

Lissek only had one save in the game even though Monmouth took 11 shots. The Knights defense was able to force the Hawks into tough shooting situations.

Fairleigh Dickinson had gone 4-0-2 over its last six games before today's defeat.

The Knights will return 22 players for the 2011 season.