New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

CAMDEN, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The late-season surge by the New Jersey City University men's soccer team came one win short on Wednesday. Still, the final result is an impressive one. With their playoff lives on the line, the Gothic Knights gave #10/16 ranked Rutgers University-Camden, the regular season New Jersey Athletic Conference champions, all it could handle over 110 minutes of action before the two sides settled for a 0-0 tie in double overtime in the final regular season game of the 2011 season on Wednesday night at Rutgers-Camden Community Park.
 
NJCU's 2011 season ends with a 6-10-2 record and 2-5-1 in the NJAC as the Knights went 3-0-1 in the final 10 days of the season. However, the Knights were eliminated from the NJAC Tournament race with the loss as Rutgers-Camden improved to 14-2-2 and 6-0-2 in the league. Camden leads the all-time series, 19-8-8 and is 5-0-4 in the last nine meetings. Camden extended its unbeaten streak to 12 games (10-0-2) but had its six-game winning streak halted.
 
NJCU needed a win over the Scarlet Raptors and a Rutgers-Newark win at Richard Stockton College to gain the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament; the Ospreys edged Newark, 2-1 on Wednesday night. NJCU, which was predicted to finish in 10^th place in the conference's preseason coaches' poll, ended seventh in the league with seven points.

The game was the first scoreless contest for the Knights since also tying Camden on November 1, 2008 in Camden, NJ during the NJAC Quarterfinals. It was the 113^th overtime game in school history (24-24-65) and 14^th to end in a scoreless draw.
 
Camden was ranked No. 10 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and #16 by D3soccer.com. It was NJCU's best result against a ranked team since a 2-1 overtime upset of #3/4 Montclair State University on October 30, 2009.

Camden, who will be the #1 seed and have home field advantage throughout the NJAC Tournament, had a 3:1 ratio in shots, owning a 36-12 margin, but reigning NJAC Rookie of the Week DANIEL SEQUEIRA (South River, NJ/South River) made a career high 10 saves as he finished the year with a 3-0-1 record in net including a pair of shutouts. NJCU also had one team save. Senior keeper Tim VanLiew (Deptford, NJ/Deptford) made five saves to notch his eighth shutout of the season and extended his career record to 28 shutouts.
 
The Scarlet Raptors had numerous opportunities in regulation—with a 25-9 shots advantage —and in the pair of 10-minute overtime periods (11-3), but sent shots high or wide. NJCU blocked several shots as the defensive effort of seniors HENRY GUADALUPE (Prospect Park, NJ/Manchester Regional) and LIONEL EMABAT (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) and freshman sweeper EDWIN UMANZOR (Linden, NJ/Linden) again was stellar.
 
NJCU also had several solid scoring chances, most notably with 2:40 remaining in the second overtime when freshman forward RAPHAEL ARAUJO (North Plainfield, NJ/North Plainfield) broke into the box 1-on-1 with VanLiew and fired a shot that VanLiew deflected over the crossbar.
 
Camden sophomore forward Mitch Grotti (Milmay, NJ/Millville), the front-runner for NJAC Offensive Player of the Year honors with 16 goals and 36 points overall, had a game-high 10 shots, including three on goal. Freshman midfielder Joe Auleta (Atco, NJ/Hammonton) had seven shots while sophomore midfielder Zaiere Putmon (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) added six shots with four on goal. Camden honored its four seniors before the game.
 
NJCU junior GABRIEL AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) had a team-high four shots for the Gothic Knights, with three on goal.