PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's soccer squad exploded for four goals behind a trio of forwards today, Wednesday, Sept. 13, and picked up a dominant 4-1 victory over St. Joseph's University-Long Island this afternoon. Seniors
Maximo Vargas (Montevideo, Uruguay/The British Schools) and
Ryan Evande (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) (game-winner) each broke through for the first time this season, while junior
Danny Tobon (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) put up a brace to cap off the match.
NJCU (2-1) kicked things off early as, midway through the third minute, Vargas forced a turnover in front of the Golden Eagles' (2-3) box. An errant header pass from a St. Joe's back landed on Vargas' foot and the Gothic Knight sprung free, lifting the ball over the keeper's head to make it 1-0.
Evande actually started his own rush in the 42nd with his team up one. He sent an outlet pass out to senior forward
Gabe Cruz (Colonia, N.J./Colonia) down the left side and the latter ran with speed down to just outside the top corner of the box before crossing the ball to the middle. There, sophomore midfielder
Kevin Alves (Rutherford, N.J./Rutherford) put a nice back-foot touch on it to set up senior forward
Jorkaef Fallas (North Bergen, N.J./Hudson Catholic) for the score — however, his shot rang off the bottom of the right post, allowing Evande to eat up the rebound and score on an open net.
St. Joe's cut it back to one in the waning moments of the first half. Leading 2-1, Tobon quickly made it a two-goal game again in the 50th to start the second half. Sophomore back
Jason Salamanca (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) got things going with a big-booted lead pass down the left sideline. From there, Tobon turned on the jets, getting around his defender and sending the ball to the far-right lower corner of the back of the net to bring it to 3-1. In the final moments, Tobon was taken down inside the box in the 90th — he would convert on his penalty to cap the game off, 4-1.
Highlights:
- NJCU outshot the Golden Eagles, 6-2, in shots on goal.
- The Green and Gold have won three straight over St. Joe's, all of which came on the road on Long Island.
- The Gothic Knights are now 19-2-1 in non-conference play, dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
Up Next:
NJCU finally kicks off home play for the 2023 season on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 16, at 1:00 p.m. as Sarah Lawrence College comes to visit Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. The Gothic Knights have defeated the Gryphons twice over two meetings in the last two seasons by a combined score of 6-0.
