New Jersey City University Athletics

BOX SCORE

JERSEY CITY, NJ…The New Jersey City University men's soccer team couldn't have asked for a better way to open the 2008 New Jersey Athletic Conference schedule. The Gothic Knights surged to a 5-0 lead against a Richard Stockton College club that had only allowed five goals in its first six games of the season, led by senior forward CRISTHIAN ACUNA (East Newark, NJ/Harrison) who scored twice, as NJCU defeated the Ospreys, 5-2, in the NJAC opener for both schools on Saturday at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.

NJCU (5-2-1, 1-0-0 NJAC), the defending NJAC regular season champions, remained unbeaten in its last six games, as it improved to 50-8-1 in home games over the last six seasons. NJCU has now defeated the Ospreys in three of the last four meetings. While Stockton (3-3-1, 0-1-0 NJAC) leads the all-time series, 24-6-5, since 2000, the Ospreys advantage is only 6-4-1.

The five goals were the most the Knights have ever scored against Stockton and the first time the Ospreys have allowed more than four goals in a game since winning the NCAA championship in 2001. It was also the most goals NJCU scored against a conference opponent since twice scoring five during the 2005 season.

NJCU, the #4 ranked team in the NCAA Metro Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, also came in as the #25 ranked scoring offense in the country at 3.71 goals per game. The Knights have now outscored opponents, 31-9 this year. Stockton was fifth in the Metro Region and 16^th nationally in goals against average (0.38) before NJCU unleashed its offensive explosion. In the victory, NJCU had seven shots on goal, scoring on five of them.

Acuna, the 2007 NJAC Offensive Player of the Year, tallied his second multiple-goal game of the season and sixth of his career, giving him 31 career netters, tied for third in program history. Senior midfielder EDISON BILBAO (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep), the 2007 NJAC Midfielder of the Year, junior midfielder AWAL AHMED (Elizabeth, NJ/Linden) and sophomore forward TRAVIS MCKOY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) contributed the other goals.

Senior midfielder JONATHAN BILBAO (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep) and junior midfielder JOHN BERNAL (Totowa, NJ/Inem (Medellin, Colombia) each provided two assists while sophomore midfielder EDUARDO TEJADA (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) and senior midfielder #MIGUEL FONTÁN# (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) each chipped in an assist.

Sophomore keeper ANDRE VIOLA (Clifton, NJ/St. Joseph's Regional (Montvale)), returning to the lineup after missing five games with an injury, made a crucial save on a penalty kick attempt by Stockton junior midfielder Pat Tolomeo (Ocean City, NJ/Ocean City) just 2:09 into the game and finished with three saves.

Stockton scored both its goals against NJCU's reserves after the Knights had opened a 5-0 lead. Sophomore midfielder Sean Nelson (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South) scored on an assist from freshman defender Brennen Fitzsimmons (Neptune, NJ/Neptune), while senior midfielder Mike Holmes (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) added a penalty kick goal in the 88^th minute.

EDISON BILBAO opened the scoring at 28:32 with his third goal of the year and 23^rd of his career. His twin brother, JONATHAN BILBAO lofted a free kick into the box from 25 yards out to Bernal who one-touched a pass directly to EDISON BILBAO, finishing the play with a one-timer.

Just 1:46 seconds later, Tejada rifled a deep shot from 20 yards that freshman keeper Lou Herring (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) stopped, but the rebound came directly to Acuna waiting on the right post, where he tapped in the 30^th goal of his career at 30:18.

At 32:08, Ahmed, a highly-touted transfer who missed the first seven games of the year with an injury, entered a game for the first time as an NJCU player, and less than three minutes later, he scored his first career goal—proving to be the game-winner. JONATHAN BILBAO pushed a perfect pass to Fontán on the right side of the box. He immediately slid a pass across the box to Ahmed who fired home the double-assisted goal at 35:00 for a 3-0 lead. NJCU led 3-0 at the half behind a 12-5 advantage in shots.

At 60:13 of the second half, Acuna struck again as he broke through on a long drive up the far right wing, dribbled through several defenders, before rocketing home a shot from 12 yards out on the right side. It was his 94^th career point.

Barely five minutes later, Bernal aired a perfectly-placed cross onto the right wing to set Mckoy up for a breakaway, which was rifled home on the angle for his fourth goal of the year at 65:15.

Nelson got the Ospreys on the board at 74:46 when Fitzsimmons lifted a free kick from the left of the box onto the right post. There, Nelson tapped in the shot for his first goal of the year. Holmes' penalty kick goal at 87:29 was his first score of the year.

Viola also received help from senior midfielder COURTNEY McGREGOR (Irvington, NJ/Frank H. Morrell Campus) who made a team save in the second half as NJCU finished with four stops. Herring made two saves in defeat for the Ospreys. NJCU outshot the visitors 16-11.

NJCU returns to action on Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 p.m. when it visits Kean University for an NJAC night game. The Ospreys host Mount Saint Vincent on Monday, September 22 in a 7 p.m. non-conference game.