Tournament host Long Island defeated the SFU men’s soccer team on penalty kicks in the Northeast Conference championship match, Nov. 15.

With the victory on PKs (3-1), the Blackbirds advance to the NCAA College Cup Tournament. The Flash close their season at 11-5-4, after advancing to the NEC final for the second consecutive year.

SFU senior Conner Rezende scored the first goal of the title match, beating a Long Island defender before putting the ball in the far-side netting.

LIU would tally the next two goals, getting scores from Romario Guscott and NEC Rookie-of-the-Year Rasmus Hansen.

Rezende scored his second goal of the game in the 79th minute off an assist from junior defender Francis de Vries. The senior forward’s second score tied the match, 2-2.

Despite a red card to Guscott at the end of the first overtime – which forced the Blackbirds to play a man down – LIU held on in the second OT to send the game into penalty kicks.

“Soccer’s a cruel sport, especially when you lose in penalty kicks, where luck plays a huge part,” said SFU freshman defender Collin Wurst.

“It’s obviously a devastating loss, but I believe next year will be our year.”

SFU had defeated Robert Morris, 2-1, in the tournament semifinals. Long Island, which beat Saint Francis-New York in the semis, will play Rutgers this week in the first round of the 2015 College Cup.

“That game was easily one of the most entertaining soccer matches I have ever watched,” said SFU student Hallie Rexer, who attended the match. “They deserved to win.”

Three Red Flash players were named to the All-NEC First Team. Redshirt senior midfielder Pablo Medina and de Vries were both named NEC First Team for the second straight year. de Vries was also recognized as the league’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive season.

Freshman Mario Mastrangelo also made the First Team after tallying 10 goals and scoring 21 points.

“This is a horrible feeling, but that’s sports – you win some, you lose some,” said de Vries. “We’ll do our best to get back to the NEC final next season and make sure that next time, it’s us raising that trophy in front of our fans.”