NJIT Shuts Out Sacred Heart, Stretching Unbeaten Streak to Seven
NEWARK, NJ—Senior Cristian Marcel’s unassisted goal in the 69th minute was the difference for NJIT, which defeated visiting Sacred Heart 1-0 in men’s soccer Wednesday night on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
NJIT, unbeaten in its last seven contests, with four wins and three ties, ran its season record to 5-2-3 with Wednesday night’s win, which marked the third shutout in the last four contests for the Highlanders and sophomore goalkeeper Christian Foust.
The defeat dropped the visiting Pioneers to 0-9-1 on the season and was their seventh consecutive loss.
NJIT had a 14-5 lead in total shots, including 6-1 in shots on goal and the corner kicks were even at six apiece.
Foust, the NJIT goalkeeper, needed just one save for his third personal clean sheet of the season (he also played 85:18 in a 1-0 victory over Marist). Junior Tucker Hackett made five stops in goal for Sacred Heart.
The game’s only score came at 68:05, when Marcel’s hard shot from the top of the box grazed a Sacred Heart defender and made a slight change of direction as it spun into the net past the goalkeeper, Hackett. The goal was the second game-winner for Marcel and his third goal overall, tying him with classmate Marko Drljic for the 2014 team lead. Marcel also scored the game-winner in the season-opening 3-2 win at Jacksonville.
The goal came just 68 seconds after a near-miss for Marcel on a direct free kick from 20 yards out late in the 67th minute. Marcel’s free kick cleared the Sacred Heart wall and was beyond the reach of a diving Hackett, but the try went just wide at the intersection of the crossbar and the right post.
Foust, the NJIT goalkeeper, made just one save all night, but it was a big one, denying Sacred Heart’s Mahmoud Kafel in the 15th minute to keep the game scoreless.
The play was the result of an NJIT miscue, combined with a fortunate bounce that favored the Pioneers. The miscue was a giveaway by the Highlander defense inside the top of penalty area, but NJIT seemed to recover, breaking up the ensuing Sacred Heart pass attempt. But the ball caromed hard on the break-up and bounced straight to Kafel, whose alert one-time shot appeared ticketed for the back of the net, but was stopped by Foust on a reflex save.
NJIT’s best chance of the first half came in the 30th minute, when Nikola Gogic got off a header on a corner kick, but the shot went straight into the chest of the Sacred Heart keeper Hackett.
Highlander Ansel Ueshiro had a strong run that resulted in two shots in the 59th minute. The sophomore carried the ball into the box and made his way through traffic for a short shot that was saved by Hackett. The rebound came back to Ueshiro, but his follow-up try seconds after his first attempt was blocked by the Pioneer defense.
With the end of pre-conference play drawing near, the Highlanders will visit defending Northeast Conference champion St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday at 1 pm. The game will played at Brooklyn Bridge Park Piers on the banks of the East River.
The Terriers, who stumbled out of the gate 0-4 to begin the season, are unbeaten in their last six, with four wins and two ties. St. Francis has not allowed a goal in its last five games (four wins and a scoreless tie in the last contest at UAlbany on September 30).
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Eagles Drop 3-0 Result at No. 22 USF
TAMPA, FLA. – Georgia Southern played an outstanding opening 45 minutes, but allowed three second-half goals to fall 3-0 at No. 22 USF on Wednesday night. The Eagles stymied the Bulls in the opening half behind six saves from goalkeeper Jack Falle. The Eagles travel to face Stetson next Tuesday at 7 p.m.
"We defended really well and had some great chacnes early," said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "In the second half we lost the mark on a set piece to give up the first goal, and then they got another one two minutes later. From there we had to chase the game and we gave up another goal on the counter."
The Eagles' (4-4) had a pair of golden opportunities in the 10th minute when Jeremy Rector attempted to put his name on the scoresheet. A positive build-up through the middle of the park gave Rector the ball in space just yards from goal. His first attempt cracked off the crossbar and came back to the native of Duluth, Ga. He gathered and took another shot which went inches wide of the post for a goal kick.
South Florida (5-3) got the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute off a header from Eduardo Maceira. He directed a corner kick from Lucas Baldwin in to the net for his second goal for the season.
The Bulls got their second goal just 2:15 later when Tyler Blackwood beat the Eagle goalkeeper from six yards 1v1 in the box. Edwin Moalosi assisted on the goal to put the home side up 2-0.
USF's Baldwin put the ball in the net in the 66th minute, but the goal was disallowed by a USF foul in the box as the shot was taken. The Bulls, however, got their third goal in the 74th minute when Moalosi scored off a counterattack in the box.
Falle recorded seven saves on the night as the Eagle offense posted four shots with two coming from Rector. It was the second-straight match the Eagles have been held scoreless after posting 13 goals in the previous three matches.
Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Stetson next Tuesday for the last of four-straight road games. The game against the Hatters starts at 7 p.m. in DeLand.
Georgia Southern will host the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Championships on November 13-16, 2014 from Eagle Field in Statesboro. The league's teams will convene in Statesboro with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Make plans to be at the friendly confines for all the action.