HARRISONBURG, VA—The NJIT men's soccer team kicked off its 2022 campaign with a 2-2 draw against Drexel at the Fairfield by Marriott Invitational hosted by James Madison Thursday afternoon at Sentara Park.

The Highlanders held a pair of one-goal advantages but saw the Dragons respond twice in the second half to secure one point each.

Given the new rules governing overtime in the regular season, the game ended in a draw after 90 minutes and left both teams with a hard-fought point.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• 21st minute: Graduate student Jose Del Valle scored his first goal in a Highlander uniform into the upper right corner of the frame, assisted by Justin Aguirre-Rosas.

• 53rd minute: Drexel's Kyle Tucker scored the equalizer to tie the match at 1-1.

• 59th minute: NJIT regained the lead, 2-1, on an unassisted goal by sophomore Asembo Augo

• 73rd minute: The Dragons tied the match at 2-2 on a goal by Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Preseason All-Conference team Daniel Nesseler into the top left of the goal.  Ori Arzi was credited with the assist.

NOTEWORTHY

• Del Valle, a transfer student from Northwestern, scored his fifth career goal (at Northwestern: 4 goals).  Del Valle will pursue his masters in Management in September 2022 at NJIT.

• Aguirre-Rosas tallied his second career assist in his young career.

• Augo started his second career match and netted his second career goal (first collegiate goal at Vermont in the 2021 America East semifinals match).

• The even affair saw the Dragons hold a 12-to-5 advantage in total shots (8-to-4) on goal.

• Senior goalkeeper Samuel Reisgys combined for six saves.

• The last time NJIT opened up the season with a tie dates back to 2020 against Seton Hall (3-3 draw; February 17, 2021).

NEXT UP
NJIT will conclude the Invitational on Sunday, August 28 when the Highlanders face host James Madison at 3pm.   Sunday will mark the second all-time meeting between NJIT and JMU.  Last season, JMU, who started off the 2021 season receiving votes from the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll, ranked No. 20 in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.com and No. 25 by CollegeSoccerNews, topped the Highlanders, 2-1.