WAYNE, NJ…All New Jersey City University had to do to guarantee itself a first-ever home game in the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament was defeat William Paterson University on Wednesday night in the 2005 regular season finale, a team it had not lost to since 1998. However on a night where upsets were rampant across the NJAC, the Gothic Knights fell victim to a demonstration of why this conference is the best soccer league in Division III. WPU built a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second half, and held on to defeat NJCU, 2-1, in an NJAC game at Pioneer Soccer Park.
The loss for NJCU (15-5, 5-4 NJAC) means the Gothic Knights are locked into the #5 slot in the six-team conference tournament, and will visit Richard Stockton College, the fourth seed, in the NJAC Quarterfinals on Saturday, October 29 at 4 p.m.
It will be the third time NJCU plays Stockton in a tournament game in Pomona, NJ. The schools tied, 0-0, in 1999, before the Ospreys advanced on penalty kicks. In 2001, Stockton edged NJCU, 3-1, in the NJAC Championship game, en route to winning its only national title.
With the win, WPU (9-7-3, 3-4-2 NJAC) clinched its first winning season since 1997 (11-5-1) and first nine-win campaign since 1998. The Pioneers finished above .500 for the first time since 1997. In addition, they also won three NJAC matches for the first time since going 3-5-1 in 2002.
NJCU had been 4-0-1 in the last five meetings against WPU, since the Pioneers prevailed 4-1 in Jersey City in 1998.
Freshman forward Felipe Duarte (Ocean City, NJ/Ocean City) got things started for the Pioneers in the 39th minute (38:34) when he took a pass from junior midfielder Mike Petracca (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) and put a header into the net.
Five minutes into the second half (50:45), the Pioneers struck again when junior forward Shawn Caltagirone (Farmingdale, NJ/Colts Neck) scored off a Petracca feed to make it 2-0.
The Gothic Knights got on the board in the 74th minute when senior forward #CHRIS ROSENTHAL# (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) tallied a goal off an assist from freshman forward #JUAN ESPINOZA# (New Brunswick, NJ/Buen Pastor (Lima, Peru)) to cut the lead to 2-1, but New Jersey City never got closer. The goal was Rosenthal’s 12th of the season and 37th point; the assist was Espinoza’s 38th point.
On Senior Day at WPU, Mike Blanton (Florence, NJ/Florence) got the win in his final home game by recording six saves. Also honored for the Pioneers was midfielder Don Seymour (Delanco, NJ/Riverside).
Sophomore goalkeeper #BRUCE NEVES# (Newark, NJ/Hudson Catholic) made four stops in the loss for the Gothic Knights. NJCU had margins of 17-13 on shots and 7-3 on corner kicks, but did not win.
—www.njcugothicknights.co
