WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Mount St. Mary's in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship Game at the Great Lawn on Sunday, 7-2.

Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) recorded both goals for the Mount (9-10-1), who was playing in its third NEC title match in program history. Mount St. Mary's also advanced to the NEC Championship Game in 1994 and 1999.

Wheeler, who earned a spot on the All-Tournament team, scored in the 13th and 42nd minutes to notch his 11th and 12th goals of the year, tying the Mountaineers Division I record for goals in a season. Even Hytten (1990) and Simon Hodkin (1997) also registered 12 tallies in the squad's Division I era. The NEC Rookie of the Year finished his first season in Emmitsburg with 12 goals and three assists for 27 points.

Senior Vinnie Berry Berry (Helensburgh, Scotland/St. Patrick's), an All-NEC first-team selection, dished out an assist on Wheeler's first tally while freshman Kyle Patrick (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) recorded the helper on Wheeler's second score. Berry and senior Steve Pathroff (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) joined Wheeler on the All-Tournament team.

Samson Malijani, the NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, posted three goals and an assist to pace the Knights (13-5-2) to their sixth NEC Tournament championship and first since 2003. Segio Munoz added a goal and two assists while Majdi Zaineh made nine saves in the winning effort.

Fairleigh Dickinson scored three of the final four goals to end the first half and never looked back to upset Mount St. Mary's hopes of its first NEC Tournament crown.

After the Mount tied the game at 1, a foul inside the box set up Malijani's first goal of the afternoon on a penalty kick a 20:48 to hand the Knights a 2-1 advantage and a lead they would not relinquish. Paul King then extended the lead when he looped a shot over Mountaineer goalkeeper Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) 78 seconds later off helpers from Munoz and Fabrizio Trezza. King then set up the third-straight goal for Fairleigh Dickinson when he found Serge Zulu at 39:37 for a 4-1 advantage.

Mount St. Mary's cut the deficit to 4-2 at the end of the first half when Patrick crossed the ball from the left off Zaineh's fingertips and Wheeler was there to record his second goal of the day at 41:27.

The Knights then put the game away in the second half thanks to two goals by Malijani in the 57th and 77th minute and a goal in the 81st minute by Munoz.

Fairleigh Dickinson got the scoring started early in the match when Chris Farone found the twine on a header off a corner kick serve from Malijani at 5:21.

The Mount answered when Wheeler headed the ball into the back of the net off a cross from Berry at 12:30, but the Knights would then roll off three-straight goals and go on to earn the NEC's bid to the NCAA Tournament. The nine combined goals in the game by the two teams tied the NEC record.

Davis made four stops for the Mountaineers in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's was playing in its fifth NEC Tournament and first since 1999. The Mount, who was picked to finish ninth in the league's preseason coaches' poll, posted its most wins in a season since 2000 and will return 34 of its NEC best 36 goals next season after only two goals were scored this season by a junior or senior.

Berry finished his career with seven goals and 11 assists for 25 points. Along with Berry, Pathroff, C.J. Cover (Joppa, Md./Fallston) and Joshua Barnaby (Takhoma Park, Md./Archbishop Carroll) played in their final collegiate matches.