DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For 78 minutes on Saturday night, the Embry-Riddle men's soccer team, in particular, the Eagle defense, led by goalkeeper Richard Dearle, was up to the task against fourth-ranked Lynn at the ERAU Soccer Stadium. The Eagles held the Fighting Knights scoreless for the majority of the game, getting 11 saves from Dearle, but the visitors eventually broke through in the 79th minute before holding off the Eagles' last minute push to win, 1-0.

ERAU (1-3, 0-2) was outshot 23-6, but it nearly didn't matter as the hosts eyed a possible upset against Lynn (5-0, 1-0); however, just as they had in their previous four contests, the Fighting Knights kept a clean sheet, holding ERAU to just six total shots, three on goal.

Dearle made the first of his 11 saves in the sixth minute as Alun Webb couldn't get his shot by the sophomore keeper, and the visitors would go on to enjoy the majority of possession in the first half as the Eagles seemed content to stay back and attempt to counter-attack, but the opportunities were few and far between for the Blue and Gold. 

Danile Gylfason attempted the only Eagle shot in the opening period in the 28th minute of play, but LU's Alexander Roth sniffed it out to keep the game scoreless and it would remain that way until the halftime break.

The beginning of the second half saw little in the way of offensive action, but starting in the 58th minute, the fourth-ranked Fighting Knights started upping the pressure on Dearle and the Eagle defense.

Dearle made back-to-back saves off shots from Simon Koops and Martin Drobits at the 57:52 mark and after a few more Lynn shots, the Eagles got off an attempt off the foot of Alex O'Brien that went well high.

Dearle made two more fantastic saves in the 76th and 77th minute, but at the 78:13 mark, Stefan Strohmaier received a pass from Ilias Papadopoulos on the left side of the box and placed a shot across the face of the goal past a diving Dearle for the first, and what would prove to be the only, goal of the night.

The best chances of the evening for the Eagles came in the final four minutes, the first when Gylfason couldn't quite get enough behind a header that was easily saved by Roth and the second when Matthew Samuel got behind the Lynn back line, but his shot again found the hands of Roth as Lynn held on for the 1-0 win.

Dearle's 11 saves were the second-most of his career (15 vs. Flagler on Sept. 7, 2016).

ERAU will host Eckerd on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at the ERAU Soccer Stadium, looking for its first Sunshine State Conference win of 2017. First touch is set for 7 p.m.