New Jersey City University Athletics

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GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Inside-the-Athlete, CHRISTOPHER SEGOVIA

DIRECTIONS TO ECAC SEMIFINALS (Gaelic Park, Manhattan College; Riverdale, NY)

NEWARK, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior goalkeeper SHELDON PARKINSON (New Rochelle, NY/Herbert H. Lehman (Bronx, NY) only made one save in regulation or overtime, but his performance in a penalty kick shootout was nothing short of sensational. Parkinson stopped four of Brooklyn College's seven penalty kicks, and freshman center midfielder ALEC METSCH (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) cashed in his opportunity in the seventh round of PKs as the New Jersey City University men's soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Tournament, edging Brooklyn, 4-3 in seven shootout rounds following a 3-3 double overtime tie on November 9. 

The neutral field contest was played under the lights at Rutgers-Newark's Alumni Field after a Nor'Easter postponed the ECAC Quarterfinal game between the #3 seeded Gothic Knights (11-9-1) and 6^th seeded Bulldogs (13-5-3) on Wednesday and Thursday. After a 9:15 p.m. start, the game did not end until 12:02 a.m. on a cold night in Newark.
 
In the shootout, NJCU had four chances to end it, but missed three consecutive opportunities in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds before Metsch buried the winner to set off a wild celebration.
 
NJCU, playing in its first post-season game in four seasons since also reaching the ECAC Semifinals in 2008, will have just 15 hours to recover before facing #2 seeded Richard Stockton College in the semifinals on Saturday, November 10, at 3:30 p.m. The game will be played at Gaelic Park, the home field for the Manhattan Jaspers, in Riverdale, NY and will be hosted by New York University. Stockton (11-7-2) defeated #7 Mount Saint Mary, 5-2, on Thursday.
 
NJCU claimed a 4-2 win over the Ospreys on September 29 in Jersey City. Stockton currently owns a six-game winning streak.
 
The other semifinal pits #4 NYU (11-7-1), 3-1 winners over 5^th seeded Ramapo College earlier on Friday, against 8^th seeded College of Staten Island, which edged top-seeded Rutgers-Newark in penalty kicks on Thursday night following a 1-1 tie. NYU will host the championship game on Sunday, November 11 at 7 p.m.
 
NJCU advanced despite squandering a 3-1 lead in the final 19 minutes of regulation before neither school found the net in two golden goal overtime periods.
 
NJCU led 2-0 at halftime behind goals from sophomore midfielder ANDREW LOPES (Union, NJ/Union) and sophomore forward MANNY MARTIS (Union, NJ/Union) while senior center midfielder EDUARDO TEJADA (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington), a First-Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference selection, netted his 11^th goal of the season in the early 66^th minute.
 
Junior defender MOHAMED CONTEH (Trenton, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro North), a Second-Team All-NJAC choice, contributed two assists—his second and third of the season—while Metsch tacked on his seventh assist of the season on Martis' goal in the 18^th minute.
 
Brooklyn junior keeper Stamatis Boundouris (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) made five saves in regulation and overtime and set aside two shots in the shootout.
 
Sophomore midfielder Dedou Toure (New York, NY/Manhattan International) scored Brooklyn's first goal in the 32^nd minute before assisting on the game-tying marker with just 4:53 remaining in the second half as senior forward Pajtim Gjonbalaj (Brooklyn, NY/Franklin D. Roosevelt) scored his 11^th goal of the season. Freshman forward Oleg Tykhonravov (Kharkov, Ukraine/Abraham Lincoln) made it a 3-2 game with his goal in the 72^nd minute.
 
In the shootout Brooklyn won the coin toss and elected to shoot first and junior defender Peter Vavalle (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) scored into the right side of the net. Tejada was first up for NJCU and answered into the upper left corner. Brooklyn gained a 2-1 lead on a shot into the mid-right side by junior midfielder Dmitry Prokofyev (Tula, Russia/International) before rookie defender/midfielder TYLER KRYCHKOWSKI (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) responded by depositing a shot inside the left post.
 
Tykhonravov was third up for Brooklyn and struck a shot towards the left post, three feet off the ground, before Parkinson, an Honorable Mention All-NJAC selection, dove and batted the chance away. Sophomore midfielder MARCO AVELLA (Union, NJ/Union) made it a 3-2 advantage with a shot into the middle right side.
 
Senior midfielder Denton Laing (Kingston, Jamaica/Calabar) went the other way with Brooklyn's fourth shot but once again Parkinson made the save, diving towards the near right post. Parkinson then had a chance to win it himself as the shooter before Boundouris made a diving stop towards the left post.
 
Senior midfielder/defender Alwyn Adams (Raymore, Guyana/Raymore-Peculiar) kept the Bulldogs alive in round five, tying it at 3-3 with a shot into the right side. Conteh stepped to the line with NJCU's second chance to win it and struck a ball well towards the right post, before Boundouris made another diving stop to force the first sudden death round.
 
The next shooter for Brooklyn, freshman defender Steve Orellana (Brooklyn, NY/Fort Hamilton) went low and right, but Parkinson again used his 6-foot-5 frame and massive reach to knock the chance away. Senior midfielder NANA KOFI KUSI (Newark, NJ/Kumasi Academy (Ghana) had NJCU's third chance to end it but sailed a shot over the crossbar.
 
In the seventh round, sophomore defender/midfielder Taras Frankivskyy (Ternopil, Ukraine/Ternopil Technical) fired a shot towards the left post before Parkinson smothered his fourth penalty kick. Metsch stepped to the line and made the most of his chance to play hero, burying a shot a few feet off the ground and inside the left post—just out of the sprawling reach off Boundouris to ignite the Gothic Knight celebration.
 
In regulation, NJCU took a 1-0 lead at the 10:59 mark of the first half. Conteh played a long ball from his own defensive zone over the BC defense, sending Lopes in on a run from the right wing before he buried his fourth goal of the season into the far left side.
 
Metsch made a two-legged slide along the near right sideline to keep a ball in play, played a pass to Martis in the box, before Martis beat the keeper to his left for a 2-0 edge at the 17:17 mark with his fourth goal of the year.
 
Toure capitalized on an NJCU mistake to cut the lead in half. Parkinson's outlet throw was stolen by Brooklyn. Parkinson tried to backpedal but Toure, recognizing the NJCU keeper was off his line, lobbed a shot from 25 yards out that found the net for his third goal of the season. NJCU led 2-1 at the half.
 
NJCU got what appeared to be a key insurance goal at the 65:09 mark, as Conteh chipped a pass onto the near left post from the right side of the box and Tejada one-timed home his 11^th goal and 32^nd point of the season.
 
But Brooklyn, the runners up in the City University of New York Athletic Conference, had plenty of fight left. At the 71:02 mark, Tykhonravov won a ball from the NJCU defense and lobbed a perfect shot over a leaping Parkinson and into the upper left corner to again trim the Gothic Knight margin to one.
 
Then at the 85:07 juncture, BC found a way to even the game as Toure aired out a cross from the right wing into the box, and Gjonbalaj pinpointed a running header inside the right post.
 
The two schools combined for just six shots in the two overtime periods with just one on goal. NJCU dominated possession for most of the contest, outshooting the Bulldogs, 20-13, including a 10-3 differential in the second half. The Knights also had a 10-2 margin in corner kicks.