EMMITSBURG, Md. – Kyle Patrick (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) scored a career-high two goals and Steve Pathroff (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) kept the nation's leading scorer off the scoreboard to lift Mount St. Mary's past Fairleigh Dickinson 2-0 in Northeast Conference men's soccer action on Friday.

Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Patrick gave the Mount (9-6-0, 5-1-0 NEC) the lead it would not relinquish in the 42nd minute and then sealed the win with his first two-goal performance after finding the back of the net in the 64th minute move the Mountaineers atop the NEC standings. Coming into today's play, the Knights (9-4-2, 4-1-1 NEC) paced the league with 13 points with the Mount St. Mary's and St. Francis (N.Y.) tied for second with 12 points. The Mount moves into sole possession of first place with the 15 points and inch closer to its first NEC Tournament appearance since 2000.

Pathroff was up to the task of containing Samson Malijani, the nation's leading scorer and he held the Fairleigh Dickinson junior to three shots in 82 minutes. Scott Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) took over for Pathroff in the final eight minutes and held Malijani to no goals in a match for the first time in 11 matches. Malijani came into the week tied for the nation's lead with 1.00 goals per game and had recorded Fairleigh Dickinson's last five goals and 10 of their last 11 scores.

Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) made two saves for the Mount and registered his first career assists. Davis also notched his seventh shutout of the season.

Majdi Zaineh made five saves in the loss for the Knights.

Mount St. Mary's scored in each half and maintained the nation's leading scorer to shutout the Knights to post its ninth victory overall and fifth NEC win for the first time since the 2000 season.

With the match scoreless, Davis kicked the ball to Will Thomas (Mount Rainer, Md./The Heights), who headed the ball to Patrick and the freshman nailed the ball into the netting at 41:17 to hand the Mount a 1-0 edge going into halftime.

Vinnie Berry (Helensburgh, Scotland/St. Patrick's) helped increase the advantage to two markers when he served a free kick to Patrick, who knocked the ball into the top right corner of the net off the goalkeeper's fingertips at 63:41.

Fairleigh Dickinson had several scoring opportunities in the contest, but could not convert. Malijani had his shot blocked in the 26th minute. The junior's best chance to get Fairleigh Dickinson came in the 62nd minute, but his header off a cross bounced over the net high. Malijani gave the Knights their final scoring chance and missed high in the 72nd minute. Davis made saves against Jason Wells in the 58th minute and Fernando Huthmacher in the 69th minute.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Sunday in the final regular season home game of the year against Sacred Heart. Game time is 1 p.m. Prior to the match, seniors Berry, Pathroff, Joshua Barnaby (Takohoma Park, Md./Archbishop Carroll) and C.J. Cover (Joppa, Md./Fallston) will be honored.