September 30, 2006

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Greg Spaulding's overtime goal capped a thrilling come-from-behind effort for New Jersey Institute of Technology in the Highlanders, 2-1, men's soccer win over visiting Howard Saturday evening on Lubetkin Field.

The game-winner, just 3:54 into the first extra session, was a header inside the right post from straight on, giving Howard goalkeeper Thomas Taylor no chance, as Spaulding redirected a pass from near midfield by Rafael Barrera,.

Spaulding played a big role in the Highlanders' first goal, which tied the score 1-1 with just over 10 minutes left in overtime. The lanky sophomore was tripped up on a Howard foul in the penalty area, leading to a penalty kick for NJIT, which captain Robert Herrera converted at 79:47.

"Greg brought a great energy when he went in the game," said NJIT coach Pedro Lopes, who inserted Spaulding part way through the second half. "You could tell he was fired up by what he had seen happening on the field and he gave a great effort. It was a tremendous goal."

The win lifted the Highlanders to 1-0-1 in the Atlantic Soccer Conference a third of the way through the six-game ASC slate. The top four teams in the regular season qualify for the ASC Championship tournament, with the winner gaining an automatic berth in the annual NCAA Division I College Cup. NJIT tied defending champ Hartwick, 1-1, earlier in the week.

"Our guys are dedicated to doing well in the conference....in the rest of the games this season, really," said Lopes, whose team will play four of its last seven scheduled games in the ASC. "We've played better than our early season won-lost record showed and playing well now gives us a chance to make this the kind of season we wanted."

There was no score for most of the first half, but the visitors got a huge break when NJIT's Dylan Broadley got a controversial second yellow card at 38:47, forcing the Highlanders to play a man short the rest of the way.

Howard grabbed the lead 1:10 before the half, as Nasheed Sabree scored on an assist from Sulayman Camara.

The Bison pressed their man advantage early in the second half, but they seemed to play for time more frequently as the half wore on, often kicking the ball out of play as a first option.

Despite being a man short, NJIT gained more and more of the attack in its bid to tie the score and the result was a lot of good scoring opportunities on each end, but the goalkeepers were equal to the task, with Josh Osit making four extremely difficult stops in the second half for NJIT and Taylor coming up with some big saves, as well. The game totals were 7 saves for Osit and 5 for Taylor.

"It feels great for us to get this win," Lopes said in summary. "We really needed this to be a win more than we needed it to be a tie. They (the NJIT players) worked hard and deserved to get the win."

The Highlanders will take on defending Patriot League champion, Lafayette, in a non-conference road match on Wednesday at 7 pm. Lafayette, a 2-1 winner over NJIT last regular season, went on to compete in the 2005 Division I College Cup.