CHESTER, Pa. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior center back Ron Jones (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) had not scored since the first game of the season. He guaranteed his team's first postseason appearance in seven years would not be the last game of this season. Jones scored twice, tying the game in the 21st minute and again in the 80th minute before burying the final, decisive penalty kick in the shootout as the No. 4 seeded New Jersey City University men's soccer team advanced past top-seeded McDaniel College into the quarterfinals of the 2019 Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship Tournament on November 16. 
 
The game between NJCU (11-9-1) and McDaniel (11-6-1) at Widener University's Leslie C. Quick, Jr. Stadium officially ended in a 3-3 draw after double overtime with NJCU advancing in the shootout, 3-2. The Gothic Knights advanced despite never leading in the game. 
 
The Gothic Knights will meet third-seeded and host Widener (10-8-1) in Sunday's quarterfinal game at 12 p.m. The Pride edged No. 2 seeded Brevard, 1-0, in the second opening-round game. The two schools have never met in men's soccer.
 
Rookie midfielder Oscar Perez (Passaic, NJ/Passaic Tech) scored his first career goal late in the 50th minute to again tie the game (2-2) after McDaniel took a 2-1 lead to the half, outshooting the Knights by an 11-4 margin in the first 45 minutes in NJCU's first game since October 30—a 17-day layoff.
 
Junior goalkeeper Aldahir Cazun (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) came up clutch in the shootout, stopping three shots—getting his hands on two and his foot on another—while getting a little help from the post on a rebound. After neither school converted its first two penalty kick attempts, junior back Nelson Segovia (North Bergen, NJ/North Bergen) and Perez each converted in the third and fourth rounds. Cazun stopped the fourth round attempt to give NJCU a 2-1 advantage.
 
McDaniel junior back Cam Gebhart (Red Lion, Pa.), who gave the Green Terror the 2-1 lead at the half, kept McDaniel alive in the fifth round of the shootout, tying it at 2-2. Jones was NJCU's closer, stepping to the line needing to convert to extend his final collegiate season at least one more game, or face the prospect of a sixth shootout round. He calmly stepped to the penalty mark and finished a left-footed shot into the upper left of the goal to ignite a massive Knight celebration.
 
"Today was special for me," said Jones. "I have played in this tournament before when I was at Moravian [2015-16] and lost in the first round. I felt that I needed to bring more energy and play with more confidence. Knowing this could be your last game of your college career was a motivator for me to do better. When I was walking up there [to the penalty mark] I was saying to myself that 'I can do this' and 'I got this' and that confidence helped me take the final PK."
 
McDaniel led 1-0 just 35 seconds into the game on a penalty kick by junior midfielder Jacob Wells (Hanover, Pa.)—his 10th goal of the year for the Green Terror—before Jones scored unassisted at the 20:30 mark. That tally was his first since scoring the first goal of the season for the Gothic Knights just two minutes into their season-opening 2-0 win on August 30 against St. Joseph's-Brooklyn.
 
McDaniel regained the lead eight minutes later when Gebhart scored early in the 29th minute, set up by the first of two assists in the game by senior midfielder Randy Hilleary (Bonney Lake, Wash.), who produced his first two assists of the season.
 

NJCU came out with a different energy in the second half, outshooting the top-seeded Terror 8-4 in the next 45 minutes, and it took less than five minutes to even the game as senior center back Mike Almeida (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) generated the first two assists and points of a season in which he was named Second-Team All-NJAC. His ball to Perez at the 49:56 mark evened the game at 2-2.
 
Fourth-year head coach Joe Cullen noted: "I am proud of the guys for being resilient today. We went down three separate times during regulation and managed to fight back and get a winning result today. We need to rest and prepare and come back tomorrow and find another way to get a positive result in the quarterfinal. Aldahir was able to get his hands on three of the five PKs and give us a chance to win it. Ron Jones (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) was able to step up massively for us."
 
McDaniel regained a 3-2 edge in the mid 60th minute as junior forward Nick Bowman (York, Pa.) put away his fourth goal of the season, aided by Hilleary.
 
But Jones responded again for NJCU with 11:20 remaining in regulation, putting away his second goal of the game, assisted by Almeida. Jones collected the ball on the left side of the field, inside the McDaniel 18 and shot it into the right upper corner of the net. That forced the game into overtime where neither team could decide it. 
 
NJCU had a 4-3 edge in shots in the two overtime period although the final few seconds were nerve-wracking with Wells having one final shot with six seconds left that was forced wide right.
 
Cazun made seven saves for NJCU plus three in the shootout. McDaniel junior Aaron Bilbie (Shrewsbury, Pa.) had eight saves.
 
OF NOTE:

• NJCU is 11-0-1 against non-conference opponents this year. McDaniel is a member of the Centennial Conference.
• Series: 0-0-2. Second-ever meeting between the Knights and the Green Terror. The teams also played to a 1-1 (2 OT) draw on September 10, 2011 in a neutral-site game in York, Pa.
• NJCU was the only men's or women's soccer team in the New Jersey Athletic Conference without a tie this season prior to Saturday's 3-3 result.
• The shootout was NJCU's first since also advancing out of the first round of the ECAC Tournament after a 3-3 (2 OT) draw against Brooklyn on November 9, 2012.
• The Knights improve their all-time ECAC record to 11-6-4 record in 21 ECAC games and have a .619 winning percentage. Including the NCAA Tournament (2005, 2007), NJCU is a 14-8-5 (.611) in 27 playoff games—not including 13 NJAC Tournament games (4-6-3).
• This is NJCU's 12th postseason tournament appearance in school history and the first under head coach Joe Cullen.
• In addition to 2019, NJCU has appeared in the ECAC Metro Tournament  in 1975, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012. NJCU won the 2004 ECAC Metro championship and were runners-up in 2001 and 2006. 
• This is NJCU's first ECAC Tournament appearance under the current format. Previously, the four primary ECAC Division III regions—Metro, North, South and New England—held separate eight-team tournaments, with each determining its own winner. Now, the top 16 teams from across all four ECAC regions will compete over two weekends for the overall ECAC championship.

 
UP NEXT:

• To follow the ECAC Quarterfinal match between NJCU and Widener, members of the MAC Commonwealth Conference, live stats and video will be available. The winner will advance to the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday, November 23 at a site and opponent to be determined.

 
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