New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
GOTHIC KNIGHT 'INSIGHTS':

• Post-game interviews: EDUARDO TEJADA, SHELDON PARKINSON and Aboubacar Diaware
• Post-game interviews: Coach Patrick Snyder

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior midfielder EDUARDO TEJADA (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) , the reigning New Jersey Athletic Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro Division III Player of the Week, scored twice and added one assist while rookie forward ABOUBACAR DIAWARA (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) notched a goal and an assist as New Jersey City University jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held off Richard Stockton College, 4-2, in an NJAC game on September 29 at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.
 
NJCU (7-4, 2-2 NJAC) snapped a two-game streak of twice losing by one goal and evens its conference ledger while picking up its seventh win of the season. The resurgent Gothic Knights, led by first-year head coach Patrick Snyder, exceeded last year's win total (6-10-2) in just the first month of the 2012 season, and matched the win marks from the 2009 and 2010 campaigns.

“It was a fantastic win, the boys put in a lot of hard work rebounding from Wednesday's game against Kean,” said Snyder. “They showed a lot of resiliency. We talked about being able to bounce back. This is what good teams do which is bounce back from tough losses.”
 
Stockton (4-5-1, 2-3-0 NJAC), which had won the last three meetings between the schools, dropped its second game in a row. The Ospreys lead the all-time series, 27-7-5. Stockton, which only allowed 11 goals in its first nine games, had not given up more than two in any contest before NJCU doubled that maximum in 90 minutes.
 
The shots were even, 29-29, although NJCU, which had a 13-10 edge in shots on goal, had the much more dangerous opportunities until Stockton added two strikes in the final nine minutes with the game all but out of reach.
 
Tejada, who has now tallied 17 points over his last five games, scored NJCU's second and fourth goals in the 14^th and 62rd minutes, giving him six markers on the season. He assisted on Diawara's second goal of the season in the 33^rd minute with his NJAC-leading eighth assist. NJCU led 3-0 at halftime.
 
Junior goalkeeper SHELDON PARKINSON (New Rochelle, NY/Herbert H. Lehman (Bronx, NY) made eight saves, including some athletic reaches to poke away shots. Stockton rookie keeper Bob Millar (Green Ridge, NJ/Allentown) made nine saves under heavy pressure.
 
Junior forward Pat Rafferty (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) scored his third goal of the season in the early 82^nd minute to break up the shutout before sophomore forward Matt Jenne (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) netted his second goal of the year with 2:24 remaining. Junior midfielder Chris Katona (Howell, NJ/Howell) assisted on both goals, his third and fourth helpers of the season.

“ It feels good; we know now that anybody is beatable in the NJAC,” said Tejada. “We said from the beginning of the season that we don't lose at home. We let one loss at home [William Paterson, September 15] slip away and it was a 1-0 game. It's not going to happen again [like that].”
 
“It was just a solid performance,” Parkinson added. “We came out strong, came out with a presence and we got the job done.”
 
Diawara noted “we came [off] two losses in a row. Today we were confident. We put it [the win] in the pocket and we got three points.”
 
NJCU, playing without NCAA leading scorer RAPHAEL ARAUJO (North Plainfield, NJ/North Plainfield) and play-making midfielder ANDREW LOPES (Union, NJ/Union), as both sophomore starters sat out with an injury and card suspension, respectively, got some help from the opposition just 26 seconds into the action.
 
As sophomore midfielder MANNY MARTIS (Union, NJ/Union) sent a cross from the ride endline that was bending away from the far left post, Stockton rookie defender Sean Ahern (Galloway, NJ/Absegami) stuck out his leg to clear it. The ball, which would have been routinely cleared, curved backwards and into the top right corner, giving NJCU a 1-0 lead thanks to the second own goal of the season.
 
Less than 13 minutes later, Tejada drove into the box but before he could have a 1-on-1 shot against Millar, was tackled from behind by freshman defender Joe Stapleton (Forked River, NJ/Lacey Township). Awarded a penalty kick, Tejada buried his second PK goal of the season (in two tries) on the ground into the lower right corner at the 13:02 mark.
 
Diawara nearly made it 3-0 in the 31^st minute on a diving header off a Tejada cross before Millar made a nice save. But two minutes later, the Tejada-Diawara tandem would not be denied. Tejada ripped a shot from the close right wing that Millar blocked up and off the crossbar. Diawara followed the shot, heading the rebound right down the middle for a 3-0 lead at 32:47 as Tejada earned his 17 career assist and 47^th point.
 
NJCU outshot Stockton 9-6 in the opening half. Parkinson kept Stockton off the board at the 33:55 mark on a beautiful kick save on the right post to deny senior defender Chris Hayman (Pittsgrove, NJ/A.P. Shalick).
 
Tejada tacked on another goal at the 62:02 mark. Diawara earned his second assist of the season as he dribbled up the right wing before slipping a short pass to a cutting Tejada on the ground from the right side of the box. There, the NJCU co-captain ripped a shot that caught the fingertips of the Stockton keeper before it was stuck in the back of the net for a 4-0 advantage.
 
Parkinson made three solid saves in the span of 2:46 to keep the game scoreless. NJCU missed three breakaway chances in the second half; otherwise the score would have been more lopsided.
 
Stockton finally got on the board at the 81:06 mark as Katona slipped a pass on the ground into the goalmouth where an unmarked Rafferty knocked home a one-timer. Jenne headed in a cross from the left wing in the goalmouth at 87:36 for the final Osprey goal to cut the NJCU lead in half. Stockton had three straight shots blocked in the box in a span of eight seconds in the final minute, but couldn't make it a one-goal game.
 
NJCU is on the road on Monday, October 1 at 4 p.m. against Lehman College in a non-conference contest in the Bronx, NY before hosting undefeated and #6/8 ranked New York University on October 3. Stockton hosts Neumann University on October 1 at 7 p.m.

“Hopefully this propels us forward,” Snyder summarized. “It puts us in a good spot at 2-2 with the rest of the conference. We're gonna keep playing. We have three tough non-conference games coming up and then back into the thick of conference play.”