Box score

GARDEN CITY, NY—Two-time defending Atlantic Soccer Conference champion and 2011 regular season champ Adelphi scored three times in the first 35 minutes Friday night in the Panthers' 3-0 ASC Tournament semifinal win over NJIT in men's action.
 
The Panthers (8-9-1), who, as regular season winners, earned a bye into the semis, scored in the fourth minute, the 26th minute and the 35th minute to put away the Highlanders, who finish their season at 5-12-2. NJIT had reached the semifinal with a 4-1 win Thursday afternoon against Howard.
 
Adelphi advances to Sunday afternoon's championship game against Longwood, which advanced to the finals on a penalty kick tiebreaker win over Houston Baptist, after the teams tied 1-1 in two overtimes in the other semifinal.
 
On Friday night, the Panthers, who had scored a convincing 2-0 win at NJIT in the regular season finale for both teams four nights earlier, took advantage of three first-half lapses by the Highlanders.
 
Junior Omar Edwards who had scored once in his team's 2-0 win at NJIT on Monday night, scored twice in the postseason rematch. He picked up Adelphi's first goal at 3:28 and then capped the scoring at 34:49.
 
The Edwards scores were sandwiched around junior defender Adam Weinzimer's first goal of the year at 25:22.
 
The first goal for Edwards was unassisted and junior midfielder Domenico Parrelli assisted on the next two scores.
 
Adelphi needed two goalkeepers in the shutout win. Freshman starter Christopher Herrera, who had blanked NJIT earlier in the week, had to leave Friday night just 2:46 into the match, when he injured his leg making a goal kick on the cold, windy night, with temperatures in the low 40s. Senior Kyle Blackmer came on and finished the job for the Adelphi, making three saves after Herrera hadn't made any in his brief outing.
 
Junior Lars Maalen-Johansen started and went the distance in goal for NJIT, making four saves along with the three goals allowed.
 
Adelphi outshot NJIT, 12-5 overall and 7-3 in on-target tries. The Highlanders attempted four corner kicks to three for the winners.
 
“You always want to compete in a big game, but we never gave ourselves a chance,” said Cesar Markovic, who completed his first season in charge of the Highlanders. “They scored a couple of minutes in on a shot our goalkeeper bobbled and the guy knocked it in; the second goal was a header on a missed mark on a corner kick; and the third goal was a giveaway in the back. We were a bit undisciplined in the most important moments.”
 
The first goal by Edwards was opportunistic, as he scored from the doorstep on a loose ball just 3:28 in. The next goal, at 25:22, was a header from the 6-foot-2 Weinzimer off of Parrelli's corner kick. And then Parelli set up Edwards for the third Panther goal at 34:59.
 
With NJIT and Adelphi playing in the same conference, this is the fourth straight Highlander season to end with a loss to the Panthers. Indeed, five of the last six NJIT seasons have ended with losses against Adelphi (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011).
 
Looking back on 2011 and facing ahead, Markovic found some positives for his team.
 
“We're looking forward to the future,” said the coach who has won multiple championships in his previous three college coaching stops (Division III Hunter; Division I Saint Peter's; and, Division I Stony Brook). “Tonight is a disappointment, but we accomplished some things this year—we got five wins (tied the NJIT Division I record, first done by 2009's 5-14-1 team; we had a three-game winning streak (October 2 to 11; longest streak for NJIT in its Division I era, which began in 2004); and, we had a winning record at home (3-2-2, including a five-game unbeaten streak—two ties and then the three straight wins). Now, we'll build on that with the guys we have returning, plus the players we will bring in.”