Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, FL—North Florida clinched the outright championship of the Mike Gibbs Memorial Tournament with 3-1 win Sunday night over visiting NJIT in the second round of the two-day men's soccer tournament..
 
North Florida, a co-host of the Mike Gibbs tournament along with crosstown Jacksonville, went 2-0 in the tournament that opened the 2014 season, having defeated the fourth team in the field, Florida Atlantic, 5-2, two days before topping the Highlanders.
 
NJIT is 1-1 after beating Jacksonville on Friday, 3-2. Jacksonville rebounded from that loss to defeat Florida Atlantic 2-0, also on Sunday. As with many in-season college soccer tournaments, NJIT and FAU were not scheduled to face each other in the Mike Gibbs Memorial. The two Jacksonville-based schools, JU and UNF, hosted the tournament games on their respective home fields.
 
North Florida was the outright Mike Gibbs Memorial Tournament champion, while NJIT placed second for having beaten Jacksonville, also 1-1, head-to-head.
 
The Ospreys, who reached the 2013 championship game in the Atlantic Sun Conference and was picked to finish third, never trailed against the Highlanders after breaking a scoreless tie in the 56th minute on the second goal of the young season by Alex Morrell.
 
Morrell and teammate Simon Solstad would each finish the game with a goal and an assist.
 
Junior Tommy Osipitan leveled the score for NJIT just over eight minutes after Morrell's goal, but UNF took the lead and then added insurance inside a span of 4:04, as Diogo Quirino snapped the 1-1 tie in the 71st minute and Solstad, assisted by Morrell, made it 3-1 in the 75th minute.
 
Aside from the goals totals, the statistics were close, with each team getting 12 total shots. North Florida put seven shots on frame, with Christian Foust stopping four for the Highlanders. UNF's keeper, Tord Pederson, stopped five of NJIT's six on-target tries. NJIT had a 6-5 advantage in corner kicks.
 
North Florida's Helge Pietschmann had a big part in the first goal, stealing the ball from an NJIT player just outside the box on the right and centering to Morrell, who knocked it home on one touch at 55:38.
 
The 1-0 score held until the 63:49 mark, when Osipitan, who scored three goals last year as a sophomore, found the mark for his first goal of 2014, assisted by freshman Danny Cordeiro, who now has assists in each of his first two college games. He carried the ball down the right side for NJIT and sent a flawless crossing pass to Osipitan, who was open in front.
 
The tie-breaking goal and ultimate game-winner came off of a scramble in front of the NJIT goal, where UNF's Solstad's shot rebounded back to the top of the goal area, where his teammate Quirino lined a shot into the back of the net.
 
Foust made the initial save on Solstad's shot off of a corner kick, but it was too hot to control, staying in play for Quirino.
 
Solstad then added a goal of his own, assisted by Morrell, at 74:07. Solstad now has a three-game goal scoring streak dating back to the last game of 2013.
 
The visiting Highlanders had four shots within four minutes of going behind 3-1, but two were blocked by the defense and two others were off target.
 
Cordeiro, Cristian Marcel, who scored twice in the 3-2 win at Jacksonville, and Jimmy Myers were all named to the All-Tournament team for the Highlanders.
 
Morrell was named Offensive Most Valuable Player, Quirino was Defensive MVP and four other Ospreys made All-Tournament.
 
NJIT continues its season on the road, this time heading north and east to visit Rhode Island on Thursday in a 5 pm game.