New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score RIVERDALE, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the second year in a row, New York University could not put away New Jersey City University late in the second half. In another exciting meeting between the squads in men's soccer, NJCU trailed 2-0 before getting on the board in the 71^st minute and tied it in the 79^th before the Gothic Knights and Violets played another 30 minutes of scoreless action and settled for a 2-2 deadlock in a non-conference night game on October 8 at Manhattan College's Gaelic Park.
 
Trailing 2-0 at halftime and by the same margin with less than 20 minutes remaining, junior center midfielder MARCO AVELLA (Union, NJ/Union) converted a penalty kick at 70:05, before sophomore midfielder ABOUBACAR DIAWARA (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) put away his team-best sixth goal of the season off the rebound of a shot by junior midfielder MANNY MARTIS (Union, NJ/Union) at 78:38.
 
After 110 minutes, NJCU is still .500 on the season at 5-5-1 while NYU's record moves to 6-3-2. The Violets outshot NJCU 21-19, including 13-2 in the first half, before the Knights dominated possession in the second half and outshot the hosts 17-8 in the final 65 minutes. NYU did hold a 7-2 margin on corner kicks but was whistled for seven offsides.
 
Rookie keeper NICK NARDONE (North Arlington, NJ/Queen of Peace) made just his second career start and stopped seven shots in helping NJCU steal a road tie. NYU keeper Lucas Doucette made six saves.
 
In the first half, NYU scored in the 11^th and 34^th minutes, with Reece Barton netting his sixth goal of the season at the 10:19 mark off a free kick pass up the middle from Tim Goldman. Shawn McNitt-Gray added his fourth goal of the year at 33:27 off a lead pass from Robin Smith.
 
NJCU would play the final 20:32 of regulation plus overtime a man up after Barton picked up a yellow card in the 67^th minute and a red card less than three minutes later to be disqualified.
 
The game was in many ways eerily similar to the meeting between NJCU and NYU on October 3, 2012 in Jersey City. In that game, NYU, then ranked No. 6/7 nationally, led 1-0 with less than six minutes remaining before NJCU struck twice in a span of 1:47 in the final minutes to stun the Violets, 2-1.
 
After suffering its most lopsided loss since 2010 on Saturday, NJCU entered the 71^st minute of its matchup versus NYU having not scored in more than 165 minutes.
 
"We knew we were better than 7-0 [Stockton game result] and better than down 2-0," said second-year head coach Patrick Snyder. "This goes back to the spring and the preseason. We wanted to create a mentality here that we could come back from anything. We were unlucky not to score before the 70^th minute but knew we could put ourselves in a position for road points and a win as well. It was just a good scene for us all the way around and good camaraderie."
 
NJCU finally put itself in position to score early in the 71^st minute after junior center midfielder KELVIN FLORES (Hightstown, NJ/Hightstown) was taken down in the box and Avella cashed in a penalty kick for his third goal of the year.
 
"We were putting a lot of pressure and really getting into the box and making ourselves dangerous," Snyder described. "Kelvin dribbled in and got taken down and Marco is our guy in set pieces and penalties; we have a lot of confidence in him. Kelvin and [freshman midfielder] DAVAUNI BROWN (Newark, NJ/Newark Tech) were putting a lot of pressure on their back four and they just took us down in the box."
 
Still looking for the equalizer, NJCU came down the left side, a ball was played into the box and Martis had a shot blocked by Doucette. But the rebound came right to the feet of Diawara who put away the opportunity for a 2-2 deadlock. The assist on the rebound was Martis' fourth helper of the year.
 
NYU put two shots on goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation—a header by Bryan Walsh in the 81^st minute and a shot with one second remaining—but Nardone stopped both to send the game to overtime. In the 98^th minute of the first OT, Nardone saved another Walsh header and made a fourth stop in the 103^rd minute. NJCU's best chance to win came with 5:33 remaining when Doucette saved a Flores chance.
 
Avella and Martis each led NJCU with five shots with both players putting two shots on goal. Barton had five shots for NYU while McNitt-Gray and Walsh had four shots for the Violets.
 
NJCU is back on the pitch on Saturday, October 12 at 7 p.m. when it plays a key New Jersey Athletic Conference game against Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.