WAYNE, N.J. — After allowing a pair of goals in the first half on the road against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival William Paterson University tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 11, the New Jersey City University men's soccer squad team saw its offense awaken in the second en route to a 3-2 comeback victory, the squad's first conference win of the season.
NJCU (6-5-1, 1-4 NJAC) held the final 12-6 shots on goal advantage to end the match against the Pioneers (5-9, 1-4 NJAC), but did not manage a tally in the first half, while WPU scored twice to take a 2-0 lead into the second. The Gothic Knights had two scoring chances early on before the Pioneers drew a foul in the box in the 15th, leading to a successful penalty for the game's first goal. Then, after another scoring opportunity for the Green and Gold int he 22nd, William Paterson struck again in the 23rd to take a 2-0 lead — the home team would take three shots on goal in the first half, while NJCU had two more scoring chances over the final 12 minutes to end the first with five.
The second half was a completely different match for the Gothic Knights. NJCU struck first early on thanks to some nice passing and a strong follow. Senior midfielder
Jayson Argueta (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield) sent a nice cross on net and senior forward
Maximo Vargas (Montevideo, Uruguay/The British Schools) tried to finish, was turned aside. Then rookie forward
Emmanuel Atorkui (Union, N.J./Northstar Academy) found the back of the net on the rebound for the first tally of his collegiate career in the 49th.
The second goal saw rookie keeper
Sebastian Perez (Clifton, N.J./Clifton), who played the entire first half, make a brilliant save on a change of direction and then aggressively dribble the ball out of his own net all the way up to near midfield before launching a pass down to his team's offensive box, where a foul was eventually drawn within to result in a penalty. Junior forward
Danny Tobon (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) converted on that knot it up at 2-2 in the 54th. He leads the Gothic Knights in goals (7) and points (17) and is fourth in the NJAC in goals per game (0.58) and points per game (1.42).
Finally, the eventual game-winner came after some additional strong passing as Argueta tallied his second assist of the night thanks to a brilliant ball off the left foot of the game's hero, sophomore back
Jason Salamanca (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth), from just inside the top of the box, which found to the top left corner of the goal in the 69th.
Highlights:
- Tobon led all players with four shots on goal, while Salamanca and Vargas each had a pair.
- Chippy as any NJAC game can get, the teams were tagged for a combined nine yellows, including six on the Gothic Knights alone.
- Fouls overall were 10-5, with NJCU earning more whistles, however the Gothic Knights held the 6-2 advantage on corner kicks.
- For the second straight year, the Gothic Knight men's and women's soccer teams went undefeated in the regular-season against the Pioneers, going a combined 3-0-1 with today's men's win and women's draw.
Up Next:
The Green and Gold are scheduled to faceoff with Stockton University on Saturday, Oct. 14, in Galloway, N.J. Originally scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff, the game is likely to move earlier to a 10:00 a.m. start in order to beat the expected rain in the forecast.
