Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—St. Francis Brooklyn jumped on NJIT for two goals in the first 22 minutes and held the Highlanders scoreless for the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 road win for the Terriers, who extended their unbeaten streak to six games late Saturday afternoon on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
 
The Terriers (6-2-1) have not lost since September 7 in a 3-1 defeat at UMBC, which is ranked 11th in the latest Continental Tire/National Soccer Coaches Association of America national I poll. St. Francis, ranked second in last week's NSCAA North Atlantic Region Poll, is 5-0-1 in its current unbeaten streak, with four of the wins in the streak coming on the road.
 
NJIT (4-7-1) sustained its first home loss of 2013 after getting two wins and a tie in Newark before Saturday's home defeat.
 
St. Francis junior Kevin Correa, the 2012 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year, had a part in both goals, assisting on the first and scoring the second.
 
Correa's hard shot in the 10th minute was deflected by NJIT's starting goalkeeper David Tuchinsky, but the ball squirted free to Gabriel Bagot, who fired in his fifth goal of the season to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead.
 
Correa, who bedeviled the left side of the NJIT back line when St. Francis was dominating early, scored his goal, number six on the year, at 21:42 after making a long run and carrying the ball into the box, where he made a quick move around a would-be defender, creating an open shot.
 
Junior Jack Binks, in his first year playing with St. Francis after being a record-setting freshman goalkeeper at Siena in 2011, was the other big part of the equation in Saturday's win, making five saves, some of the them do-or-die, to notch his third shutout of 2013. He has yielded just 6 goals in 8 starts, with an impressive save percentage of better than 84 percent.
 
NJIT used two goal keepers, with Tuchinsky making four saves and allowing the two goals in the first half and Alexander Czempik, coming on at halftime and stopping three shots over the scoreless final 45 minutes.
 
The final shots were even at 12 apiece, with St. Francis putting 9 shots on-frame, while the Highlanders had five shots-on-goal. NJIT finished with an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks.
 
Despite the difficulty containing the St. Francis forwards, especially Correa and Bagot, in the early going, NJIT actually had a chance to tie when it was 1-0. Ansel Ueshiro, who had just come on, worked his way free in the box for an open shot in the 17th minute, but his try at the open net sailed high.
 
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, that would be the story of their day, even as they gained traction late in the first half and then in a second half where they had the better of the possession and got more scoring chances.
 
Sven Beverst took a point-blank shot the 30th minutes that Binks deflected away, but no Highlander was there for the rebound. Six minutes later, Marko Drljic lofted a floating free kick from 30 yards that fooled much of the crowd into thinking it had gone under the crossbar, when it actually came to rest in the netting on the roof.
 
Jason Gonzalez put a hard header on target in the 42nd minute, but it was barely re-directed by a defender and went over the end line wide left.
 
NJIT had four late chances that came up empty—a header from Cristian Marcel in the 75th minute that Binks saved one-handed; an open 12-yarder from the left of the penalty spot by Marcel that went over the crossbar a minute after the Binks save; a quick shot by Enrique Hidlago that forced Binks to make a reaction save in the 82nd minute; and, a Stephen McGeever header that missed just wide in the 85th minute.
 
"I was disappointed in the way we began," said NJIT coach Didier Orellana. "We knew their forwards are very good. But we've faced other very good forwards before and done better. We didn't close down on them quickly enough in the beginning and we were fortunate they didn't score more.
 
"We played better in the second half and were much better closing down on the forwards. We also created some good chances, but couldn't put them away."
 
NJIT will return to action on Wednesday at 7 pm, when the  Highlanders host first time-time foe UMass Lowell at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.