New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Freshman forward JONNATHAN VELOZ (Newark, NJ/East Side) scored twice, including the game-winner on a penalty kick at 6:17 of the first overtime period as the New Jersey City University men's soccer team survived a late comeback by St. Joseph's College (LI) to prevail, 4-3, in a non-conference game on Wednesday at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field. The game was the 2011 home opener for the men's club.
 
NJCU led 3-1 in the 83^rd minute before St. Joseph's sophomore midfielder Terrence Dzus (Central Islip, NY/Islip) scored twice in a span of 3:19 to tie the game and force overtime.
 
NJCU snaps a two-game losing streak and evens its record at 3-3-1 while the Golden Eagles drop to 2-5-0. NJCU leads the all-time series, 6-1-1. The clubs were meeting for the first time since the 2007 season. It was the 112^th overtime game in the 53-year history of the program and NJCU evens its all-time overtime record at 24-24-64.
 
NJCU outshot SJCNY, 39-17. NJCU led 1-0 at halftime behind a 20-9 shots barrage, and then held a 16-8 advantage in the second half. The Gothic Knights had all three shots of the overtime period.
 
Junior midfielder GABRIEL AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) and junior forward NANA KOFI KUSI (Newark, NJ/Kumasi Academy (Ghana) each added goals for the Knights while senior midfielder TOM KRYCHKOWSKI (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington)  and senior forward WALTER AVANS (Roselle Park, NJ/Union Catholic) added assists.
 
Dzus scored his first and second goals of the season while junior defender John Dettori (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore) added a goal in the 77^th minute to get the Eagles on the board, trailing 2-0. He later assisted on the game-tying goal in the 86^th minute. Senior defender Greg Apicella (Islip, NY/East Islip) contributed an assist.
 
NJCU senior keeper MANNY LOJO (Clark, NJ/Union Catholic) made four saves to preserve the win. SJCNY junior Michael Pitts (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-WR) made five saves in 51:17 of action, but took the loss, allowing three goals. Junior Chris Muhs (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) made five saves while playing the first 45 minutes. The Eagles had one team save.
 
NJCU got on the board at the 31:29 mark of the first half as Krychkowski dished a long cross from the right sideline into the box and Veloz leapt, before unleashing a side-volley one-timer into the left side of the net. The assist was the first of the year for Krychkowski.
 
At 68:13 of the second half, NJCU gained a 2-0 lead as the Avans brothers teamed for a give-and-go play on the left side of the box, with WALTER AVANS feeding his younger brother for a blast inside the left post for GABRIEL AVANS' second goal of the year.
 
A defensive giveaway at 76:42 allowed the Eagles to get on the board as Dettori stole the ball and rifled home a shot inside the right far post, making it 2-1. It was his fifth goal of the year.
 
NJCU looked like it had put the game away late in the 82^nd minute as Kofi Kusi made a steal at midfield, dribbled half the length of the field on a breakaway, before scoring on a tough angle on the far left wing at 81:56 for his second goal of the year and a 3-1 lead.
 
But the Eagles mounted a comeback as NJCU allowed two late goals. At 82:38, Dzus put away a shot from 30 yards off a deflected cross from Apicella—his first assist of the year.
Then at 85:57, NJCU made another defensive miscue and Dettori fed Dzus for the equalizer, beating Lojo into the right of the net.
 
In overtime, NJCU applied pressure on the Eagles defense and it paid off in the 97^th minute as WALTER AVANS was dragged down in the box by Dettori on a solid scoring chance. A penalty kick was awarded and Veloz stepped to the line before burying a game-winning shot into the left of the net for his third goal of the season.
 
NJCU will seek to move back above .500 on Saturday, September 24 at 4 p.m. when it hosts Berkeley College (NY) in a non-conference game in game two of a soccer doubleheader. The Gothic Knight women host Rowan in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game at 1 p.m.