Box Score
GARDEN CITY, NY—Adelphi extended its winning streak to nine straight games Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over visiting NJIT in men's Atlantic Soccer Conference action on Adelphi's Competition Field.
The Panthers, who move to 2-0 in the Atlantic Soccer Conference, have surrendered just four goals total in piling up their nine consecutive wins. Adelphi has scored 19 goals in the streak.
Saturday's result leaves NJIT at 0-3 in Atlantic Soccer Conference play with one conference game remaining against Howard at home on October 25.
Sophomore goalkeeper Thorne Holder made five saves in notching his fifth shutout of the season for Adelphi. He has allowed just four goals and is 9-0 for the Panthers, who are 9-4 overall after beginning the season 0-4.
Adelphi scored once in each half, getting on the board just 3:20 into the contest and then adding an insurance goal in the 71st minute.
Explosive senior midfielder Patrick Figueiredo opened the scoring for the home team with his conference-leading 11th goal of the season after collecting a loose ball and scoring unassisted in the fourth minute.
The 2007 ASC Player of the Year, Figueiredo now has 30 career goals for Adelphi, where he is playing his third season. He also scored 13 goals as a freshman at Missouri Valley College.
Stephen Fregosi added a second tally for the Panthers, finishing off a cross from Val Charalambous at 70:28. It was the second goal of the season for Fregosi and the team-leading sixth assist for the junior Charalambous. Fregosi fired the ball off the bounce past Sutherland into the upper left corner.
NJIT goalkeeper Ryan Sutherland finished with a season-high nine saves in making his sixth start of the season. He made several tough stops, including a point-blank diving save of a hard shot by Figueirido in the second half when the score still stood at 1-0.
Adelphi held a 19-12 advantage in overall shots and 11-5 edge in shots on goal. Erik Magnusson led the Highlanders with three total shots, including two on goal.
The Highlanders put more shots on goal in the second half, forcing Holder to make four of his five saves after the intermission. In the first half, Sutherland made six saves to just one for Holder.
“Adelphi definitely put pressure on us for the first 10 or 15 minutes and that's when they got a lot of their corner kicks (six in the first half),” said NJIT coach Pedro Lopes. “But we got more control as the game went along and we had a goal called back for offsides near the end of the first half.
“In the second half, we controlled tempo and had the ball for long periods, but (Adelphi) did a good job on counter attacks and Ryan had to make some good saves. At the end of the day, they took advantage of their chances and we didn't.”
Next up for the Highlanders is one of the highlights of their 2008 schedule, when they host a non-conference match against Rutgers on Wednesday at 7 pm on Lubetkin Field.
Wednesday's match will mark the first time NJIT has hosted a team from the Big East Conference since the Highlanders reclassified and began playing a Division I schedule in 2004.
Last year October 10 at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights scored a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the spirited Highlanders.
