LORETTO, Pa. - The second-seeded Long Island University men's soccer team turned in its most dominant performance of the season to earn a berth into the Northeast Conference championship match with a 4-0 victory against third-seeded Bryant University on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Stokes Soccerplex on the campus of Saint Francis University (Pa.).

The Sharks advance to the NEC title game for the second-consecutive season and will look to defend its 2018 conference championship on Sunday, Nov. 17 against the winner of No. 1 Saint Francis and No. 4 Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

LIU scored early and often to set the tone for the match, taking a 3-0 lead into halftime behind goals by a trio of All-NEC honorees. The scoring started when the NEC Rookie of the Year, Papa Ndoye, took a cross-pitch feed from classmate Keanu Tuart on a counter-attack and calmly finished past a charging Bulldog goalkeeper during the 22nd minute. Tuart doubled the Shark lead during the 40th minute, scoring his first career goal with a nifty right-footed finish across the goalmouth and senior Kyle Parish made it 3-0 just 66 seconds later on a give-and-go play with freshman Selcuk Kahveci.

The momentum continued into the second half when Parish scored for the second time, heading home a set piece from sophomore Javier Rehberger. The LIU defense took care of the rest, limiting Bryant to just five shots on goal. 

Senior Matias Pesallaccia was outstanding in goal, picking up his third clean sheet of the season with the five-save effort. Pesallaccia made an outstanding save during the 40th minute on a free kick from just outside the penalty area, diving to his left to knock the ball over the end line and continued to impress with four saves during the second half to keep Bryant scoreless.

LIU will play for its second-consecutive conference championship on Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Stokes Soccerplex with kickoff slated for 1:00 p.m. A full match preview will be available on LIUAthletics.com prior to Sunday's match.