BOONE, NC—Host Appalachian State spotted visiting NJIT an early goal, but the Mountaineers, who played the entire second half with a man advantage, rallied to tie the score late in the first half and to get what proved to be the game-winner in the second half of a 2-1 win that eliminated NJIT after the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference men's soccer playoffs Thursday night.
 
Appalachian State (8-9) advances to face defending champion and top seed Hartwick in the tournament's second semifinal game Friday night. NJIT, which suffered its seventh one-goal loss of the year, ends the 2015 season with a 5-10-4 record.
 
The Highlanders, who struggled to score throughout the regular season, absorbing four 1-0 defeats (including 1-0 in the regular season finale last Saturday vs. Appalachian State) and also playing three 0-0 ties, avoided another shutout with an unassisted goal in the 13th minute by senior Joshua Mercer in what turned out to be his last career game for NJIT.
 
The goal was the team season-leading fifth for the senior Mercer, who had 15 goals in his college career, tying him with Franco Gamero (2009, 2011-13) as NJIT's career Division I goals leader. Mercer also raised his careers points total to 35 (15 g, 5 a), moving him past Gamero to the top of the career Division I points list (NJIT has been playing Division I men's soccer since the 2004 season).
 
NJIT's fortunes took a turn for the worse in the last 5:23 of the second half Thursday night. Appalachian State leveled the score on a goal by Trey Hemphill, his second of the year, off of a free kick at 39:37.
 
With the lead gone, NJIT's chances took another hit with 12 seconds left in the opening half when Danny Cordeiro was sent off on a direct red card that doomed the Highlanders to play with 10 men for the rest of the contest. Aside from playing a man down, losing Cordeiro also meant NJIT was without one of its more skilled attacking players for the final 45:12.
 
Despite being down a man, the NJIT defense kept the score at 1-1 more than 28 minutes into the second half. However, Appalachian State's Alex Beranger broke the tie on a goal at 73:05, assisted Alex Herbst.
 
The Mountaineers nearly added an insurance goal in the late going, but leading scorer Stephen Chapman hit the left post with a hard shot late in the 84th minute.
 
Even so, NJIT, forced to cede possession and territory in the second half playing with 10 men, did not manage a shot from the time Beranger put App State ahead until Rickardo Oldham's try on a direct free kick was saved by Mountaineer goalkeeper Jake Chasteen in the 88th minute. That was was NJIT's only shot in the second half after the teams were 6-6 on total shots at the end of the opening half.
 
Both goalkeepers went the distance, with Chasteen making three saves and NJIT's Marco Luna not making any, as Appalachian State scored on its only two shots on goal of the night. The total shots were 12-7 for the home team.
 
In addition to ending the 2015 season for NJIT, Thursday night's loss brought down the curtain on a brief two-year run for the Highlanders as associate members of the Sun Belt Conference in the sport of men's soccer.
 
NJIT, which competed as a Division I Independent in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, was one of six teams to join the Sun Belt for men's soccer when the conference added the sport to its championship offerings for the 2014 season.
 
The Highlanders subsequently became the eighth full member of Atlantic Sun Conference, effective July 1 this year. As a result, 13 of NJIT's intercollegiate teams began competing in the A-Sun in 2015-16. At the same time, NJIT informed both conferences that it would keep its commitment as an associate member of the Sun Belt, remaining in for the 2015 season before making the transition to the Atlantic Sun in men's soccer starting with the 2016 season.