PITTSBURGH, PA…Sophomore forward
MARCELO CARPIO (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) netted two first half goals, and sophomore goalkeeper
BRUCE NEVES (Newark, NJ/Hudson Catholic) stopped a penalty kick, as
New Jersey City University downed DeSales University, 2-1, in the LaRoche College Soccer 2005 Cup Challenge on Sunday morning. Freshman midfielder
CRISTHIAN ACUNA (East Newark, NJ/Harrison), the 2004 Star Ledger New Jersey High School Player of the Year, assisted on both NJCU goals as the Gothic Knights led 2-0 at halftime.
With the victory, the Gothic Knights improved to 1-1, while DeSales suffers its first loss of the season (2-1). It was the first-ever meeting between the schools in men’s soccer. The Bulldogs owned a 13-11 shots advantage in the contest.
Carpio, a transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson University
scored two goals for a second straight contest to give him four on the season. He netted a shot in the 10
th minute to give NJCU a 1-0 advantage, off
Acuna’s first career assist.
Carpio again teamed with Acuna in the 26th minute, giving the Knights a 2-0 margin. Acuna, who scored in Saturday’s season opener, now has four points in two games.
What proved to be the turning point of the game occurred shortly after NJCU gained its initial 1-0 lead as Neves, playing in his first game since 2003 after sitting out the 2004 season with a wrist injury, smothered a penalty kick to preserve the shutout. He finished the game with five saves.
Junior midfielder
Randy Sturm (North Cape May, NJ/Lower Cape May) shaved the NJCU lead to 2-1 when he scored with 25 minutes remaining. However, a strong defensive effort by juniors
RONNIE SANCHEZ (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) and
ANTHONY FLORES (Hillsborough, NJ/ Hillsborough), sophomore
JOHN JENSEN (Monroe, NJ/Monroe Township), and freshman
GONZALO DAPIA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) helped limit the Bulldogs to only one goal.
Sophomore keeper Rusty Riedmiller (Stroudsburg, NJ/Stroudsburg) made five saves in defeat for DeSales.
NJCU will return to action on Wednesday, September 7 at 4pm when it hosts John Jay College in the 2005 home opener at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field. NJCU leads the all-time series, 8-0, with a 32-0 scoring margin.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
