New Jersey City University Athletics

BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES
FDU/CITY TECH RECAP
NJCU LIBERTY CUP RECORD BOOK

JERSEY CITY, NJ (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...Sophomore striker WALTER AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic), senior midfielder AWAL AHMED (Elizabeth, NJ/Linden) and rookie forward MANNY ADDU (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) each scored twice as New Jersey City University outshot the College of Staten Island, 45-3, and smothered the Dolphins by a 9-0 margin in the opening game of round one of the 2009 NJCU Liberty Cup, played Saturday at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field. Senior forward JILMAR PEREZ (Princeton, NJ/South Brunswick) had three assists for NJCU.

 

NJCU improves to 4-1-1 on the year and 8-1 all-time in the Liberty Cup, the Knights' signature soccer tournament, which is being held for the fifth time this year. Staten Island falls to 0-5 on the season. NJCU leads the all-time series, 17-7-3, and has outscored CSI 45-1 in the last five meetings between the schools. NJCU had a 14-0 advantage in corner kicks in the contest. The game was played under a steady rain.

 

NJCU also extends its winning streak to three games, and has outscored its opponents 24-1 in that time. The shutout was the Gothic Knights' third of the season.

 

Also scoring for the Knights was freshman midfielder JEFFERSON HURTADO (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley), freshman midfielder GABRIEL AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) and freshman midfielder GIOVANNI RICCARDI (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst).

 

GABRIEL AVANS added an assist for the Knights, as did sophomore midfielder TOM KRYCHKOWSKI (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington).

 

Junior keeper JUSTIN GRANT (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) played the first 45 minutes for NJCU without a save, before sophomore goalie MANNY LOJO (Clark, NJ/Union Catholic) made one second-half stop. CSI sophomore keeper Andrew Brown (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) had 13 saves under heavy pressure; the Dolphins also had one team save.

 

Hurtado gave NJCU the only offense it would need at 15:09 of the first half when he rifled in an unassisted shot from 20 yards out on the right wing into the left of the net. The game-winning goal was his second of the year.

 

WALTER AVANS registered his third consecutive game with multiple goals, upping his weekly total to eight, as he scored the second and third goals of the game within a span of 3:05. He now has a team-best nine goals on the year. At 32:40, Perez leapfrogged a defender, then sent a give-and-go pass to Avans in the box, which he tapped in. At 35:45, Avans scored an unassisted goal as he won the ball from a defender on the right wing, dribbled several feet, before firing a shot into the top corner of the net.

 

Ahmed, who scored the fourth and fifth goals of the game, made it 4-0 at halftime when he buried a free kick from 16 yards inside the right post after the Dolphins were issued a red card. CSI played the final 49:40 of the game a man down.

 

At 53:39, Ahmed netted his third marker of the year when GABRIEL AVANS—who picked up his fourth assist—fed a pass from the right endline, which was scorched home from 10 yards out.

 

GABRIEL AVANS netted his third goal of the year at 61:02 when he one-timed a shot inside the left post off a chip from Krychkowski, who picked up his second assist of the season.

 

Addu scored the seventh and ninth goals of the game. The first came at 76:43 when the CSI defense and keeper misplayed a ball in the box, which Addu won and slipped inside the left post.

 

Riccardi headed in his second goal of the year at 78:50 when Perez sent a perfect cross from the deep right wing onto the left post.

 

Addu and Perez teamed at 87:21. A hard shot by Perez was stopped by CSI, but the rebound went right to the feet of Addu, who buried his third goal of the season. The assist was a team-best fifth for Perez.

 

In the second game of the Liberty Cup on September 12, Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham downed New York City College of Technology, 4-1.

 

On day two of the tournament on September 13, FDU will meet Staten Island at 12 p.m. in the opening game before NJCU faces City Tech at 2:30 p.m. in the nightcap.