NEWARK, NJ—Francisco Diaz knocked home a rebound in the sixth minute of overtime, lifting Houston Baptist to a 2-1 men's soccer win over NJIT Saturday night in the final home match of the year for the Highlanders.

The goal by Diaz propelled the visiting Huskies to their fifth straight win, upping their overall record to 7-7-1 and their record in the Atlantic Soccer Conference to 3-0. HBU will take on defending conference champ Adelphi (2-0-1 in the ASC) on Monday afternoon on Long Island in a first-place showdown.

NJIT, which fell behind early, but tied the score in the 28th minute, completes its regular season with a 4-12-1 overall mark, including 1-2-1 in conference play. The Highlanders will await the outcome of Monday's match to learn their opponent for the first round of next weekend's conference playoffs, which will be hosted by Adelphi.

The Diaz goal, at 95:36, was set up on a strong shot from Mateo Jimenez. NJIT goalkeeper John Ricketti made the first stop, but he could not secure the rebound and Diaz was right there to drive home the game-winner from the doorstep.

The winning goal broke a tie that had stood for nearly 70 minutes.

The visiting Huskies got on the board first, as Kristopher Tyrpak scored on a header, assisted by Andrew Collins in the eighth minute.

NJIT knotted the score with an unassisted goal by Pasquale Amato at 27:07.

The final shots totals were 16 for HBU to 12 for the Highlanders, including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal for the winners.

Houston Baptist goalkeeper Chris Dodd was credited with three saves in notching the win, while NJIT's Ricketti finished with a season-high nine saves.

The Huskies, who had posted the first four games in their winning streak at home, came in with just one road win all season, that in the season opener, a 1-0 double overtime victory at Air Force on September 3.

But HBU got off to a good start on this chilly night against the Highlanders, scoring at 7:12 on a header inside the right post by Kristopher Tyrpak off a pass ahead from Andrew Collins.

That early goal played perfectly into HBU's strategy, according to NJIT coach Pedro Lopes. “Houston came in with a game plan to defend and counter-attack and they executed it well,” said the coach.

However, the Highlanders pulled even on an outstanding individual effort by senior Pasquale Amato, who marked the occasion of his final career home game by scoring his first career goal.

Coming into the attack from his fullback position, Amato pushed the ball hard from the right wing into the box and, running to his left, fired a hard on-the-run shot past Dodd, the Houston Baptist keeper, from 15 yards out.

The scoring boot was the first shot of the season for Amato and only the ninth in the four-year career for the veteran defender.

That was the all scoring until the Diaz game-winner, but there were chances, especially late in regulation.

Ricketti made his best save of the night early in the second half, stopping a point-blank header by HBU's Duke Ogega in the 51st minute.

And there were three good chances in a four-minute span late in the second half, but neither team cashed in.

The first came in the 78th minute as NJIT's Papis Ciss found himself open in the left side of the penalty area, but his shot sailed wide right.

Two minutes later, Tyrpak's bid for a second goal was turned aside by Ricketti, who deflected a hard try by the Houston Baptist freshman over the end line for a corner kicj

Finally, in the 80th minute, Leonel Munoz of Houston Baptist got a clean header from in front, but his try went just over the top.

After the game, NJIT's Lopes was disappointed not only by the overtime loss in the regular season finale, but also by the number of close losses all season (the Highlanders were 3-6 in games decided by one goal).

“Our guys worked hard tonight and they've worked hard enough in most of our games that they've deserved more wins than we've gotten,” said Lopes. “We just haven't been able to get that goal.”

The Atlantic Soccer Conference tournament at Adelphi in Garden City, NY, will be contested beginning November 11 with the play-in round pitting the number four and number five seeds. The semifinals are November 12 and the championship match is November 14.

NJIT recognized four seniors playing their final home games in ceremonies at halftime. Aside from Amato, the goal scorer, two of his fellow starters were honored, along with one classmate who came off the bench. The other seniors were: Oshane Moodie, Devon Newton, and Brian Caine.