New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

HILLSIDE, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | If one thing is clear about facing the 2012 New Jersey City University men's soccer team, it's that even in defeat, there will be drama. Senior midfielder NANA KOFI KUSI (Newark, NJ/Kumasi Academy (Ghana) scored his fourth goal of the season in the 81^st minute with NJCU trailing by two goals before Kean hung on to take a 2-1 decision in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game between the schools played on Kean's East Campus Complex on September 26.
 
NJCU drops its second straight, falling to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in the NJAC while the Cougars improve to 2-2 in league play with the same record as the Knights (6-4). Kean leads the all-time series, 34-17-3, and is 3-0-1 in the last four meetings.
 
All four of NJCU's losses this season have been by a single goal—2-1 vs. Wisconsin-Platteville (August 31), 1-0 vs. William Paterson (September 15), 3-2 at Marywood (September 22), and now 2-1 at Kean.
 
In fact, NJCU's last eight defeats dating to October 8, 2011 at Rowan University, have all been decided by a mere goal.
 
Kofi Kusi's goal at the 80:27 mark came as he bent a ball from the right side into the far corner off another throw-in assist by rookie defensive midfielder ALEC METSCH (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick), who picked up his fifth helper of the year, and has now chalked up an assist in three of the last four games. Amazingly, four of his five assists this year have come off throws.
 
Junior goalkeeper SHELDON PARKINSON (New Rochelle, NY/Herbert H. Lehman (Bronx, NY) made six saves in a losing cause. Junior keeper Tyler Callahan (Landisville, NJ/Buena Regional) needed one save to preserve the one-goal result.
 
After a scoreless first half in which Kean held a slim 5-4 edge in shots, the hosts got on the board at exactly 66:00 as sophomore forward Erickson Simeon (Haledon, NJ/Manchester Regional) made a cross from the left interior box to the middle where senior midfielder Kharee Winslow (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) was able to finish his third goal of the season; the assist was Simeon's third of the year.
 
Just over 10 minutes later, Simeon added a goal to his three-point day. Junior defender Chris Nassif (Curitiba, Brazil) played a long ball from the back that slipped by the entire defense, sending Simeon in for an open net opportunity and a 2-0 lead. It was his fifth goal of the year and fourth game-winner.
 
But after NJCU made it a one-goal game with 9:33 left to play, there was only one remaining shot the entire game, which the Knights put wide in the 89^th minute.
 
Kean finished with a modest 12-10 edge in shots while NJCU had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks. The physical contest featured nine caution cards—eight yellows and one red card.
 
NJCU returns home on Saturday, September 29 at 1 p.m. for an NJAC game in Jersey City against Richard Stockton College.