New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES
'GOTHIC KNIGHT INSIGHTS' INTERVIEWS
POST-GAME HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University kept what appeared to be improbable post-season hopes alive, as the Gothic Knights jumped out to a 3-1 lead and received goals from four different players and upended Ramapo College in a convincing 4-2 New Jersey Athletic Conference men's soccer victory on Monday afternoon at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.
 
NJCU (6-10-1, 2-5-0 NJAC) wins its third consecutive game and after opening the NJAC schedule with an 0-5-0 record, suddenly find themselves in position to compete for the final seed in the 2011 NJAC Tournament, after beating The College of New Jersey, 5-1, on Saturday, and Ramapo (7-7-2, 1-5-1 NJAC).
 
With the loss, Ramapo was eliminated from NJAC Tournament contention as NJCU, with six points, leapfrogged the Roadrunners in the standings, and into seventh place—just two points shy of sixth-place Richard Stockton College with one game remaining in the regular season.
 
The 2011 season comes down to Wednesday night, October 26. At 6 p.m. NJCU will face a stiff test when it travels to Camden, NJ to square off with #10/16 ranked Rutgers University-Camden; the Scarlet Raptors have already clinched the NJAC regular season championship with 19 points and a 6-0-1 record. Meanwhile, at 7 p.m. fourth-place Rutgers-Newark will host Stockton at 7 p.m. in Newark, NJ.
 
If NJCU can upset Rutgers-Camden, and Newark can defeat Stockton, the Knights will earn the final seed in the conference tournament with a historic late-season surge to its credit.
 
With the win, NJCU regained the lead in the all-time series, 18-17-5, and registered its first win over the Roadrunners since the 2007 season; the Knights had been 0-2-1 in the last three meetings. It was the final home game of the season and was a makeup of a rainout from October 19. NJCU outshot Ramapo, 22-16 and scored on four of its five shots on goal.
 
Senior forward WALTER AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) scored his 12^th goal of the season and 39^th of his standout career. Freshman midfielder ANDREW LOPES (Union, NJ/Union) and junior GABRIEL AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) each scored in the first half for a 3-1 halftime lead.
 
Senior midfielder TOM KRYCHKOWSKI (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) scored off a quick restart in the 76^th minute—less than three minutes after Ramapo had cut the NJCU lead to 3-2—with a key mark that helped secure the win.
 
“Commitment,” said Krychkowski, has been the difference in NJCU's late season surge. “We've been really dedicated in practice, working hard on the pitch and it's showing up in the games. We've been working hard in the games, dominating [possession] in every game. Now everything is finally going in.”
 
Freshman midfielder MARCO AVELLA (Union, NJ/Union), junior forward AMANFO ASSIBU (Bronx, NY/Sheepshead Bay) and junior midfielder EDUARDO TEJADA (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) all contributed assists.
 
Ramapo junior forward Rob Santaniello (Oakland, NJ/Ramapo), the reigning NJAC Offensive Player of the Year, was credited with 14^th goal of the season off an oddly deflected corner kick in the 28^th minute. Sophomore forward Kevin Carbone (Howell, NJ/Howell) made it a one-goal game in the 73^rd minute off junior midfielder Jonathan Yazo (Cliffside  Park, NJ/Cliffside Park)'s NJAC-leading 13^th assist. Santaniello had a game-high eight shots, with four on goal.
 
NJCU rookie converted goalkeeper DANIEL SEQUEIRA (South River, NJ/South River), who earlier in the day was named the NJAC Rookie of the Week, improved to 3-0-0 in goal with five saves, including a pair of highlight-reel, back-to-back point-blank rejections of shots within 10 yards by Santaniello late in the 80^th minute before Lopes made a team save on the left post on the second rebound at the end of the sequence.
 
Ramapo junior David LoBue (Elmwood Park, NJ/Don Bosco Prep) played the first 45 minutes, allowing three goals without a save. Sophomore Steve Monaghan (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) made one save against one goal in the second period.
 
Avans, who scored a hat trick on Saturday in the key win over TCNJ, scored his fifth goal within conference play this year early in the 13^th minute to put NJCU in front. Avella, who notched his first collegiate point with the assist, slipped a thru ball into the box and Avans, in a 1-on-2 unleashed a shot that caromed off the inside of the left post and settled in the nylon for a 1-0 lead at 12:14.
 
NJCU missed a good scoring chance just 32 seconds later when Avella and Assibu had back-to-back shots blocked and the third chance rebound was sent high.
 
While NJCU had 12 of the first 14 shots of the game and dominated control in the first half, Ramapo was able to tie it at 27:57. Santaniello took a corner kick from the far right corner and WALTER AVANS leaped on the endline, deflecting the ball up and towards the goal. The ball took an odd bend and found its way into the top left corner of the net off the fingertips of a leaping Sequeira to tie the game. It was the 51^st career goal for Santaniello and he is now just one goal shy of equaling Ramapo's career goals record of 52, which is held by NJCU head coach Nansha Kalonji.
 
NJCU was able to shake off the misfortune less than 90 seconds later. Assibu, who picked up his second assist of the year, slid a pass from the middle of the field to the far left wing to Lopes, who had just substituted into the game 65 seconds earlier. Lopes dribbled into the left side of the box and ripped home a rocket into the left of the goal for his first NCAA goal and a 2-1 lead at 29:24.
 
NJCU extended the lead to 3-1 at the 36:18 mark. After a corner kick by Krychkowski, Ramapo's defense attempted to clear the ball out. But GABRIEL AVANS settled the clear at the top of the box, made two moves to his left to elude a pair of defenders and chipped a shot into the top left 90 that may have been deflected by a Ramapo defender, and completely fooled LoBue. The Ramapo defense later cleared a ball off the left post early in the 42^nd minute to prevent a fourth goal.
 
At the 59:02 mark of the second period, the Knights had another excellent chance to add to their lead as WALTER AVANS ripped a shot from the left wing that took a wicked bend and glanced off the right post.
 
With the deficit two, Ramapo made it a one-goal game at the 72:47 mark. Yazo crossed a ball from 30 yards out on the right sideline that skipped past three defenders and onto the left wing where Carbone ran onto the loose ball and buried a shot into the left side of the target in a 1-on-1.
 
But NJCU got the goal back with a heads-up play by a pair of former high school teammates. After a Ramapo foul at the top of the box, Tejada quickly restarted play, flicking a pass to Krychkowski on the left wing. With Ramapo caught off guard, Krychkowski capitalized, slamming home his fourth goal of the season for a 4-2 cushion at 75:25; the assist was the fourth for Tejada.
 
"It feels good because we've been working hard the whole season and playing well, but just couldn't put goals in,” noted GABRIEL AVANS. “These past two games we were able to put them [shots] away.”
 
That goal took the wind out of the Roadrunners' sails and after the back-to-back saves by Sequeira in the 80^th minute, NJCU's defense closed out the two-goal win.

First-year assistant coach Ilyas Tasci summarized NJCU's late resurgence by saying “it's just been about staying positive. It's been and up and down season but we kept the guys positive—in training, on the field and during games. We've kept them motivated and it's paying off.”
 
While NJCU plays its most important game since the 2008 season on Wednesday night, Ramapo will close its season with a 3 p.m. home game against Montclair State University in Mahwah, NJ.