New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

STATEN ISLAND, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The University of Wisconsin-Platteville scored a go-ahead goal midway through the 70^th minute to break a 1-1 deadlock that had stood for nearly 41 minutes, as the Pioneers edged New Jersey City University, 2-1, in the 2012 season opener for both schools in the opening round of the CSI Soccer Fall Classic at the College of Staten Island.
 
NJCU (0-1), opening its 54^th season of intercollegiate under new head coach Patrick Snyder, was outshot by Platteville (1-0) by an 18-10 margin in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
 
Trailing 1-0 after a 14^th minute goal by the Pioneers, NJCU evened the game at the 28:32 mark on a tally by sophomore forward RAPHAEL ARAUJO (North Plainfield, NJ/North Plainfield), off a double assist from senior midfielder EDUARDO TEJADA (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington)  and sophomore midfielder ANDREW LOPES (Union, NJ/Union).
 
Junior transfer SHELDON PARKINSON (New Rochelle, NY/Herbert H. Lehman (Bronx, NY) made eight saves in his debut in net for the Gothic Knights. Junior keeper Ian Christensen (Oregon, WI) stopped four shots to preserve the one-goal neutral field outcome for Platteville.
 
“The result is disappointing but we really had some moments we feel we can build on,” noted Snyder on his thoughts of his club's 2012 debut. “In the first half we played good soccer and I'm happy with that. But our fitness is still lacking. Still, you walk away outside of the result encouraged. A lot of guys got minutes and the overall tone is encouraging. We have 15 days and four games to get ready for conference play.”
 
The Pioneers opened the scoring at 13:28 as junior forward Cameron Weess (Winona, MN) knocked in a cross from junior defender Jake Coxey (Waukesha, WI) into the right side of the net.
 
The Knights got even in the 29^th minute on a pretty goal set up from the midfield as Tejada, a two-time All-New Jersey Athletic Conference selection and Lopes connected on a pair of passes before a cross was made to Araujo for a one-timer that evened the game at 1-1. The sides were all squared at halftime with the WIAC conference school owning a 9-6 edge in opening period shots over the Knights.
 
But after another 22 minutes of deadlocked soccer, UW-P moved in front at the 69:27 mark when freshman forward William Pretto (Madison, WI) crossed a ball over several defenders into the box before senior forward Mark Ciszewski (Germantown, WI) buried a shot in the corner. Each team had just one shot on goal the remainder of the contest.
 
NJCU plays its second game of the Labor Day weekend opening tournament in another neutral pitch contest on Saturday, September 1 at 12 p.m. as the Knights face Benedictine University of Lisle, Illinois. The match against the Northern Athletics Conference foe will also be an inaugural meeting.