Oct. 23, 2007

Box Score

WEST POINT, NY - Army broke out with three first-half goals, including two in a span of less than four minutes, en route to a 4-1 men's soccer win over visiting NJIT Tuesday night.

Four different players scored goals for the Black Knights, who registered tallies in the 15th, 34th and 38th minute to build a commanding 3-0 lead by halftime.

In a more competitive second half, each team scored once, with Army picking up its fourth goal at the 71-minute mark, before NJIT's Erik Magnusson finally dented the net in the 85th minute.

The Army goal scorers, in order, were: Andrew Batule, John Kubeika, Chase Hunter and Cole Dietz.

Magnusson's goal for NJIT was his team-leading fourth of the season and he was assisted by Dylan Broadley.

Army's John-Michael Gallogly made five saves in addition to allowing the goal and the Black Knights also had a team save. For NJIT, Josh Osit finished with two saves.

The overall shots were close--14-12 for Army, although the Highlanders had a 9-6 advantage in the second half. The shots on goal favored NJIT, 7-6, and the corner kicks were 9-8, Army.

The first two Army goals were scored on rebounds. The first, by Batule, came when he collected a deflected ball and had a clear shot from five yards out, firing the ball past Osit at 14:43.

The Black Knights continued to have the better of the play and they cashed in two shots in less than four minutes. Kubeika scored on his own rebound from 15 yards out at 33:34 and Hunter made it 3-0 on a goal at 37:28, assisted by Chris Conklin.

Hunter has notched one goal in each of his team's last three annual meetings with NJIT, starting in 2005, his sophomore season. The Army senior has 11 career goals.

Given the fact that Army had allowed as many as three goals just one time this season in building a 6-5-2 record, Tuesday's 3-0 halftime lead looked insurmountable and it was.

NJIT, playing much better in the first 20 minutes of the second half than it had at any point in the first half, was unable, nonetheless, to cut the deficit to a more workable margin.

Army, which is fit and strong and gets essentially the same level of play from its reserves as it does from its starters, began to regain more of the play in the middle of the second half and Dietz scored the Black Knights' fourth goal at 71:00. Conklin picked up his second assist on the play.

Army's leading scorer in 2007, Conklin came in with six goals, but no assists. He did not get a goal against NJIT, but he registered two assists.

Magnusson, who works tirelessly for the full 90 minutes, regardless of the score was rewarded with a goal at 84:11. Broadley, who had entered just minutes earlier, served the ball toward the goal from about 30 yards out and Magnusson headed it in, enabling NJIT to avoid becoming Army's sixth shutout victim of the season.

"This game is a lesson in hard work and concentration," said NJIT coach Pedro Lopes. "Army does not allow themselves to have mental breakdowns and with all their running, good things happen for them."

Lopes blamed his team's inability to control the ball in the first half for allowing Army to build the big lead. "We kept giving up the ball and as hard as Army was working, that gave them opportunities and they cashed in on those opportunities," said the coach. "When we kept the ball, we were moving it up the field, but we didn't do that nearly enough in the first half.

"We did a much better in the second half and we saw the results with the way we got more chances and we probably could have scored another goal or two before Erik finally did score. He deserved it for all of his hard work."

NJIT will visit Washington, DC, on Saturday, taking on Howard in an Atlantic Soccer Conference match at 7 pm.

The Highlanders are 1-2 in the ASC, with the match at Howard plus a home contest against defending champion Adelphi on November 3 remaining on the conference slate.