New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…New Jersey City University tied a single-game school record for shot differential, outshooting The College of Staten Island, 61-0, and extended its unbeaten streak to nine consecutive games as the Gothic Knights, ranked No. 9 nationally, cruised to a 9-0 victory over CSI, in a non-conference game played at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.

 

NJCU, ranked No. 9 nationally by D3Kicks.com and 20^th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, improves to 9-1-1 overall while Staten Island falls to 3-7 with its third consecutive loss. NJCU has matched the 2003 club for longest unbeaten streak in school history at nine straight.

               

With the win, NJCU secures its 11^th consecutive home victory. NJCU has won 21 of its last 22 home contests and is 33-4-1 in Jersey City over the last four seasons.

               

With a 61-shot margin in the game, NJCU tied the school record set on November 6, 1974, when then Jersey City State College outshot Bloomfield College, 68-7. The 61 total shots rank second on the single-game school record charts.

               

In all, 25 of the 38 players on the roster saw action for NJCU. The Knights only started three of their normal starters. Only four starters saw any action in the contest. In all, eight different players scored for the Knights and five others added assists. NJCU had an 11-0 edge in corner kicks.

               

Senior midfielder OMAR ALI (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) was the high scorer for NJCU, notching two JUAN ZUNIGA" src="/images/msoccer/2006/10/2/09-10-06%20Juan%20Zuniga%203.jpg" width=150 align=left border=0>goals and one assist. Senior forward JUAN ZUNIGA (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) matched the team lead with his sixth goal of the season and his third game-winner.

               

Junior midfielder JOHN JENSEN (Monroe Township, NJ/Monroe Township) and freshman forward CHRIS CESARE (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) each added a goal and an assist. For Jensen, it was his first three points of the season, while Cesare collected the first three points of his career.

                Junior forward JULIO GARCIA (West New York, NY/Memorial), sophomore forward JAMEL CARSON (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) and freshman midfielder FREUD MATHURIN (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) each scored their second goals of the season. Freshman midfielder SHAWN McCORMICK (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) added the first goal of his career.

               

Also for NJCU, senior midfielder JUAN VERA (Belleville, NJ/Harrison) collected two assists in the JUAN VERA" src="/images/msoccer/2006/10/2/09-10-06%20Juan%20Vera%202.jpg" width=150 align=left border=0>game. Each of his assists were shots that would have resulted in goals had a teammate not knocked it into the net. Freshman midfielder JOHN BERNAL (Paterson, NJ/Inem (Medellin, Colombia) chipped in his second assist of the season, while sophomore midfielder MIGUEL FONTÁN (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst), freshman defender JOSE QUIROS (Somerset, NJ/Bound Brook) and freshman defender MEHMET GUVENER (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) each contributed their first assists of the year. For Quiros and Guvener, the assists were the first points of their collegiate careers.

               

NJCU led 2-0 at the half, while outshooting CSI, 28-0. Zuniga gave NJCU the lead for good at 13:08 when he took a cross into the box from Fontán, and blasted a high shot into the upper left corner. Ali made it 2-0 at 38:48 when he buried a penalty kick. NJCU is now a perfect 4-for-4 on PKs this season.

               

In the second half, NJCU outshot the Dolphins, 33-0. Garcia made it 3-0 at 53:50 off a cross from the left wing by Cesare. Jensen scored the most athletic goal of the game at 59:55. After a thru ball from Bernal opened Vera on the right wing for a shot, Jensen came sliding in on the left post to knock the attempt into the net.

               

Carson scored an almost identical goal at 65:00. A shot from Vera on the right wing would have found nylon, but Carson slipped in on the left post to bury the ball.

               

Cesare scored his first collegiate goal at 68:50, as he timed a header into the upper right corner off a Jensen cross from the left endline.

               

The Knights scored three late goals to cap the scoring. Ali netted his second tally of the game when he blasted in a shot inside the box off a left wing thru ball from Quiros at 81:45. Mathurin was opened up for a breakaway in the box off a feed up the middle from Guvener at 83:52. A shot by Ali rebounded off the crossbar in the 89^th minute, but McCormick gathered the carom at 88:29 and rifled a shot into the upper right corner for his first collegiate points.

 

Freshman goalkeeper JONATHAN BRUN (Iselin, NJ/JFK Memorial) was unchallenged in net, while recording his second career shutout in as many starts and the team’s fourth of the year. It was the fifth time this season the NJCU defense has limited an opponent to two or less shots on goal and the ninth time in 11 games that total has been five or fewer.

 

In defeat, freshman Guillermo Parra (Venezuela/Wagner) made his first career start in goal, and made 15 saves. CSI also had one team save.

 

NJCU will return to action on Wednesday, October 4 at 3:30 p.m. when it hosts William Paterson University in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game—a makeup of a September 16 postponement. CSI hosts Hunter College at the same time.