BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The LIU women's soccer team is postseason bound!

The Sharks entered the final day of the regular season occupying the sixth and final playoff slot in the NEC standings.

And despite falling to St. Francis Brooklyn 1-0 on Thursday afternoon with a chance to secure the berth, LIU ultimately qualified anyway.

The clinch occurred on Thursday night, during the final NEC regular-season match of the season, when Howard and Wagner had a scoreless tie.

Both teams had entered the day two points behind LIU. So had either emerged victorious in the head-to-head matchup, that team would have received three points and leapfrogged the Sharks.

Instead, LIU is the sixth seed and headed to third-seeded Sacred Heart for an opening-round match on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The teams played to a scoreless draw on Sept. 18 at LIU Soccer Park.

Central Connecticut claimed the top seed, followed by Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis U.

Stonehill actually finished with enough points to make the tourney, but is ineligible in its first season after rising from Division II.

In the regular-season finale, LIU (4-11-3, 2-5-2 NEC) and St. Francis Brooklyn had a scoreless duel into the second half at Brooklyn Bridge Park, although the Sharks controlled the bulk of the possession.

The Terriers then received the decisive goal in the 64th minute from Samantha Kipperman.

It ultimately proved moot as LIU claimed the postseason berth.