BOX SCORE
ROCKY MOUNT, NC (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...A young New Jersey City University squad gave a strong, nationally-renown North Carolina Wesleyan College side all it could handle in a tournament game separated by just two shots, but a header off a cross in the 17th minute proved to be the winner for the Battling Bishops as NCWC outlasted NJCU, 1-0, on the final day of the Roger Taylor Fall Classic hosted by North Carolina Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon.
NJCU (2-1) suffers its first loss of the season but earned a second-place finish in the tournament with a +1 goal differential, having defeated Randolph College, 2-0, in the opening round. NCWC (3-0) remains unbeaten and wins the tournament with a 2-0 record and +6 differential after a 6-1 win over NJCU's New Jersey Athletic Conference rival, Rutgers-Newark, in the opening round. Newark, 2-1 double overtime winners against Randolph on Sunday, placed third in the tournament.
Freshman goalkeeper ZAKARY AZMI (New Milford, NJ/Emerson) made his first collegiate start and notched six saves. Senior Ville Tura (Kotka, Finland) stopped four shots for the Bishops. NCWC had a 15-13 advantage in shots for the game, including a 10-5 margin in the opening half.
“We had heart and courage and these kids did not quit today,” observed second-year head coach NANSHA KALONJI. “These tough games are going to get us mentally ready for the conference games. These games will help us to raise our game. The teams in the New Jersey Athletic Conference are faster and tactically better [than many non-NJAC teams] and you have to play tough non-conference games to be prepared. We have only four or five returning players starting and we're still trying to figure out how to play together. But this [NJCU] is a fantastic team.”
The only goal of the game came at 16:20 of the first half as 6-foot-7 senior forward Mark Wielitzka (Hanover, Germany) used his size to flick a short cross to the far post where it was headed over the 6-foot-1 Azmi by NCWC junior midfielder Arek Trochowski (Hamburg, Germany). It is the only goal NJCU has allowed in 270 minutes this season.
Despite the one goal, Kalonji noted that the Knights demonstrated solid defense behind juniors JEFFREY GLASHAN (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) and LIONEL EMABAT (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) and freshmen MOSTAFA IBRAHIM (Cairo, Egypt/Elharam (Cairo, Egypt) and KEVIN SCRIVANICH (Flanders, NJ/Mount Olive). NJCU played a man down for the final 5:30 of regulation.
Azmi made three saves in 71 seconds in the 13th and 14th minutes before NCWC notched the game-winner. The Bishops hit the post with a shot at 52:03 of the second half.
NJCU junior forward WALTER AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) had one solid scoring opportunity in the first half. Sophomore forward #J.P. ROSERO# (Jersey City, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep) had a shot blocked with 11 seconds remaining.
NJCU will be off until Saturday, September 11 when it experiences perhaps the stiffest non-conference test of the season with a neutral site game against #10 ranked Johns Hopkins University in the opening round of the Cialella Soccer Classic, hosted by Rutgers University-Camden in Camden, NJ.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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GAME NOTES:
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- NJCU, playing in the state of North Carolina for only the third season (2002, 2009, 2010), is 2-3-1 in the state.
- North Carolina Wesleyan leads the all-time series, 5-0 (19-8 goal differential).
- NJCU is 3-6-2 all-time against member of the USA South Conference but 3-1-2 against league members other than NCWC. The Knights have also faced Christopher Newport (0-1-1), Ferrum (1-0), Greensboro (0-0-1), Methodist (1-0) and Shenandoah (1-0).
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Team Stat Comparison
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NJCU
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NCWC
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Score
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0
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1
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Halftime
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0
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1
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Shots
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13
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15
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Shots On Goal
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4
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7
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Saves
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6
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4
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Corner Kicks
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2
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2
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Fouls
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12
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8
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Offsides
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0
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0
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Caution Cards
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3
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2
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