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Durham, NH -- The Northeast Conference Champion Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer team dropped its opening game at the NCAA Tournament 1-0 to No. 18 New Hampshire at Wildcat Stadium on Thursday night.
 
Reigning College Soccer News and TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week Jahmali Waite made six stops in the loss for the Knights (7-9-4), who conclude their season in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
 
The nationally-ranked Wildcats (15-1-3) outshot the Burgundy and Blue 26-6 in total and carried a slim 7-4 edge in shots on goal.

"We gave our heart and soul in this game," head coach Seth Roland said afterward. "We competed really hard and played in a way that they can be proud of and made FDU proud."
 
Junior Diego Arribas paced the Knights with three shots – all on goal – while redshirt senior Daniel Lasarte tallied two shots in the loss.
 
Freshman Bilal Kamal delivered the key strike for the Wildcats in the 76th minute. Kamal weaved through the Knights' backline, eluding three defenders before sending a right-footed shot to the upper right corner of the net.
 
Arribas nearly delivered the equalizer in the 89th minute for the Knights but was turned away. Lasarte played a cross into the box and the junior redirected a header to the upper left corner of the net; however, Robles leapt up and corralled it at the last second.
 
The host Wildcats registered the first two scoring opportunities of the game before Lasarte fired the Knights' first shot on frame from 30-yards out just over seven minutes into play. In the 21st minute, Arribas earned the Burgundy and Blue's best opportunity of the half when he sprinted across midfield past the Wildcat backline and fired from 15-yards out but his shot was knocked down by Robles.
 
Although the host Wildcats outshot the Knights 14-2 in the opening stanza only three of those attempts found their way on goal.

"We didn't have much possession but they didn't have many good looks at goal," Roland said. "Even with the shot disparity, most of their shots were way over the bar or way wide. There were a few dangerous opportunities of course, but we felt good with how we were defending. We wanted to minimize the dangerous chances."
 
After a quiet start to the second half, the Wildcats would blitz Waite in the 67th minute. James Thomas fired first but Waite was up to the challenge, charging forward to knock it away. Off of the rebound, Brandon Garland caromed a shot into the left post before a charging Kamal sailed a third attempt high.
 
The Knights' first quality chance in the half came with just under 17 minutes to play in regulation. Arribas found space on the left wing and attempted to hook a shot to the far corner but Robles snagged it without hesitation. Less than three minutes later, Kamal came through with the game-winning strike.

The Knights finished out the season giving up just two goals in their final 400 minutes of play. FDU's record against nationally ranked teams since 2010 now stands at 5-3-1.

With the win, the Wildcats advance to take on No. 23 Virginia Tech in the next round.