New Jersey City University Athletics

MASPETH, NY…Senior midfielder JONATHAN BILBAO (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep) scored 19 seconds before halftime to stake New Jersey City University to a 2-0 lead and received a late insurance goal from junior midfielder CARLOS MORON (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) as the Gothic Knights won their third consecutive game with a 3-1 non-conference victory over John Jay College at the Metropolitan Oval.

The Gothic Knights, ranked No. 9 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Metro Region poll, improve to 3-2 overall and now lead the all-time series against John Jay (1-4), 12-0, having outscored the Bloodhounds 57-2 in those meetings. The schools have met every year since 2000 after initially playing in 1983. The win was the 349^th in the 50-year history of the program in game No. 795.

NJCU was a bit sluggish in the first half, only attempting five shots and took the lead on a mistake by the Bloodhounds at 16:19, as John Jay freshman defender Bryan Kassebaum (Valley Stream, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) attempted to clear a cross from in front of the net before the ball slipped off the side of his foot and rolled in, for an own goal.

But Bilbao, a First-Team All-NJAC and Second-Team All-Region performer in 2007, finally notched his first point of the season at 44:41. With just 19 seconds remaining in the period, he buried a free kick from 20 yards out just under the cross bar. His 21^st career goal was his 11^th game-winner, as Bilbao extended his own all-time program record.

That 2-0 lead held up for just over 38 minutes, before Moron tallied his first points as an NJCU player, putting the Knights ahead 3-0 at 82:46, when he split two defenders and canned a point blank shot past John Jay rookie keeper Chris Adao (Colonia, NJ/Colonia).

The Bloodhounds scored their only goal with 45 seconds remaining when freshman forward Henrique Avellar (Goiania, Brazil/Julia Richmond), who had five of his team's nine shots, connected on a shot from the near sideline just under the crossbar at 89:15 for his second goal of the year.

Freshman keeper MANNY LOJO (Clark, NJ/Union Catholic) stopped three shots, including a penalty kick, for the victory while Adao made seven saves in a losing effort. NJCU outshot the Bloodhounds 17-9.

NJCU is back in action on Saturday, September 13 at 4 p.m. when it meets Methodist University (NC) in the opening round of the Joe Pombriant Classic hosted by Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA.