New Jersey City University Athletics

FULL BRACKET

CENTERVILLE, MA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the first time in four years, the New Jersey City University men's soccer team is heading to the post-season. Despite a late-season slide that saw NJCU lose its final three games and five of its last six to finish last in the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings following a 10-4 start to the season, the strength of the Gothic Knights resume in the first six weeks of the season was not only enough to help the program claim its first post-season appearance since 2008, but the #3 overall seed in the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Tournament, which will begin on Wednesday, November 7.
 
NJCU (11-9) will face #6 seeded Brooklyn College (13-5-2), the runners-up in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Tournament, in the ECAC Quarterfinals at 6 p.m. at the new Brooklyn College Field. The complex is located at 2900 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.
 
The Gothic Knights were eligible to host a quarterfinal match but had to withdraw those plans due to damage sustained from Hurricane Sandy flooding on October 29.
 
It will be the first meeting between the schools since an October 20, 2010 affair in Jersey City. The Gothic Knights won that contest, 5-0, and lead the all-time series, 3-2. In five meetings NJCU has outscored the Bulldogs, 15-5. The Knights have won the past three meetings between the schools, also prevailing in 2008 (5-0 at Jersey City) and 2009 (5-1 at Brooklyn). BC won 1-0 in 1980 and 3-0 in 1981. It will be the first post-season game between the schools.
 
The winner of the NJCU/Brooklyn game will face the winner of #2 Richard Stockton College (10-7-2) and #7 Mount Saint Mary College (NY) (11-8-1) in the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday, November 10 at a time and site to be determined.
  
The other half of the bracket features #1 seeded Rutgers-Newark (14-8) vs. No. 8 College of Staten Island (11-10) and #4 New York University (10-7-1) hosting #5 Ramapo College (8-8-1). The championship game will be contested on Sunday, November 11. The host of Saturday's semifinals will also host the championship match.
 
NJCU, which will be seeking its second ECAC Metro title, will play its first game since falling at home to eventual two-time NJAC champion Rutgers University-Camden, 5-0, on October 24. It will be NJCU's first game in 14 days.
 
NJCU, guided by first-year head coach Patrick Snyder, will be making its ninth appearance in the ECAC Metro Tournament (1975, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2008). The Knights own an 11-5-2 record in 18 ECAC games and have a .667 winning percentage. NJCU won the 2004 ECAC Metro championship and were runners-up in 2001 and 2006.
 
In all, when including the 2005 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments, the Knights will be appearing in the post-season for an 11^th time and own a 14-7-3 (.646) in 24 playoff games.
 
NJCU enters the tournament with a 3-1 record against other ECAC Tournament qualifiers this season—defeating Ramapo, 5-2 in Mahwah, NJ (September 19), Richard Stockton, 4-2, at home on September 29 and upsetting then #6/7 ranked NYU, 2-1 at home on October 3. NJCU did drop a 5-4 decision vs. Rutgers-Newark in double overtime on October 10—a game the Knights led, 3-0, and can be linked as the beginning of its late-season slide.
 
NJCU also owns a 2-3 record against schools that qualified for the 2012 NCAA Tournament announced earlier in the day. NJCU defeated Baruch College, 3-2 (October 15; Maspeth, NY) and St. Joseph's College (LI) by a 3-1 margin on October 8 in Patchogue, NY. The Knights suffered losses to Rutgers-Camden, and a pair of one-goal setbacks to then #8/8 Montclair State University, 1-0, on October 13 (Montclair, NJ) and 2-1 vs. University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the first game of the season on August 31.
 
In all, the 2012 ECAC field features four members of the NJAC (NJCU, Ramapo, Richard Stockton, and Rutgers-Newark), two CUNYAC schools (Brooklyn, Staten Island), one Skyline Conference member (Mount Saint Mary), and NYU out of the competitive University Athletic Association (UAA).