New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score GAME NOTES/PROGRAM: Gothic Knight Insights feature, MOHAMED CONTEH
SENIOR DAY PHOTO GALLERY

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The College of New Jersey scored the first four goals of the game, with senior forward Kevin Shaw (Brookside, NJ/West Morris Mendham) involved in all four tallies, and New Jersey City University was eliminated from New Jersey Athletic Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament contention with a 4-1 loss to TCNJ in an NJAC men's soccer game on October 26 at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.
 
On Senior Day 2013, NJCU's lone senior, All-NJAC and All-Region defender MOHAMED CONTEH (Trenton, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro North), netted the club's only goal in the 85^th minute, rifling home a penalty kick into the left of the net to spoil the Lions' shutout bid. It was his fourth goal of the season. Conteh also had what at the time was a key team save in the 33^rd minute, kicking a ball off the line on a shot that had beaten a diving NJCU keeper with the Knights trailing by one.
 
TCNJ moved into third place in the NJAC with one game remaining in the regular season (prior to the results of Saturday's night games) with 16 points and a 10-5-2 record, including 5-2-1 in the league. NJCU dropped to 7-9-1 overall (2-6 NJAC) and will miss the NJAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
 
TCNJ barely outshot NJCU, 17-16, with the Knights having a 13-8 margin in the second half and a 6-2 edge in corners for the game.
 
Shaw assisted on the first goal of the game in the 23^rd minute before netting his 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th goals of the season in the 44^th, 78^th and 82^nd minutes. His goal scoring totals are the most by a TCNJ player since 1992 and the hat trick and seven-point effort gives him 38 points overall. It was the second straight year a TCNJ player netted a hat trick in the annual meeting. He finished with a game-high six shots, including five on goal.
 
Freshman forward Sean Etheridge (Oakland, NJ/Ramapo) scored his fifth goal of the season to open the scoring. Freshman midfielder Nick Costelloe (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) assisted on the final TCNJ tally.
 
NJCU junior goalkeeper RUBEN MORALES (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) made five saves in defeat with Conteh contributing the team save.
 
TCNJ senior Aaron Utman (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) played the first 84:55 in net for the Lions, stopping five shots while junior defender Ryan Sullivan (Bridgewater, NJ/Immaculata), whose shot was kept out of the net by Conteh earlier in the game, contributed a key team save of his own in the 76^th minute to preserve at the time a 2-0 lead. Freshman Jake Nesteruk (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) did not face a shot on goal in the final 5:05 of reserve time.
 
The Lions got on the board at the 22:08 mark of the first half as Shaw slipped a ball up the middle from 30 yards onto the feet of Etheridge in the box for a 1-on-1 before finishing the breakaway with a shot to the right side.
 
TCNJ, which had a 9-3 margin in first half shots, extended the lead to 2-0 at the 43:42 mark on an incredible goal by Shaw, who curled a free kick with velocity around the Gothic Knight defensive wall from the near left front side of the box and into the far right side netting, past a lunging Morales. TCNJ led 2-0 at the break.
 
NJCU had its chances to tie the game. In the 51^st minute, leading scorer and sophomore forward ABOUBACAR DIAWARA (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne)  had a 1-on-1 chance in the box thwarted and his header on the left post on a beautiful cross from junior forward ANDY CABAN (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional) was blocked in the 54^th minute by the TCNJ defense. Diawara led NJCU with four shots. Caban had a break on the right post stopped by Utman in the 57^th minute.
 
Morales kept it a 2-0 deficit with a sprawling one-handed save on Etheridge in the 71^st minute. NJCU had another outstanding scoring chance in the 76^th minute with junior forward MANNY MARTIS (Union, NJ/Union) eluding a defender and Utman on the right post before sliding a shot towards the near post. But he didn't get enough on the shot and Sullivan retreated to clear the ball off the left post before it could cross.
 
TCNJ capitalized less than two minutes later as Shaw received a pass from midfield, dribbled into the box, spun past a defender and Morales and finished a shot into the left side at 77:34. Four minutes later, Shaw extended the lead to 4-0 as Costelloe threaded a pass on the ground from the right sideline into the box for another 1-on-1 before TCNJ's top player finished a shot into the right side at 81:40. Conteh bagged his penalty kick chance at 84:55 after Maris was dragged down in the box.
 
NJCU will conclude its 55^th season of intercollegiate men's soccer on Wednesday, October 30 at 6 p.m. when it visits two-time defending NJAC champions and #3/4 ranked Rutgers University-Camden in Camden, NJ.