 |
 Freshman Gustav Warfving |
Oct. 29, 2006
GARDEN CITY, NY - Ron Forman's header at 82:01 lifted Adelphi to a 1-0 men's soccer victory over visiting New Jersey Institute of Technology Sunday afternoon in a pivotal Atlantic Soccer Conference match.
The Adelphi-NJIT result, coupled with Florida Atlantic's 2-0 win at Philadelphia University on Sunday had a deep impact on the final regular season ASC standings, as well as the participants in next weekend's ASC postseason tournament.
Adelphi, which had already clinched the top seed in the tournament, which includes the right to host the four-team event, clinched sole possession of first place, finishing with a 5-0-1 ASC record, good for 16 points in the standings.
The loss eliminated NJIT from the race for a tournament berth, as the Highlanders finished up at 2-3-1 in the ASC, good for 7 points. The Highlanders final overall record for 2006 was 3-11-2.
Florida Atlantic, which was 0-2-1 in its first three conference games, surged into postseason with three conference wins in the last eight days, starting with a 2-0 win over NJIT on October 21. The Owls scored twice in the last six minutes to edge Howard, 2-1, on Friday and then secured the ASC postseason berth with a 2-0 road win at Philadelphia on Sunday.
FAU, which began the day tied with NJIT, vaulted the Highlanders and Philadelphia in the standings with Sunday's win, coming in third, with 10 points (3-2-1). Defending champion Hartwick will be the second seed and Philadelphia will be seeded fourth.
The result of the Florida Atlantic-Philadelphia game, which began an hour earlier, meant that NJIT would need a win against Adelphi in order to make the ASC tournament.
Although Adelphi had a 10-3 advantage in overall shots for the first half, only three Adelphi shots were on goal to two for the Highlanders.
NJIT got a strong chance with 24 minutes left, when sophomore Fernando Londono got free one-on-one against Adelphi goalkeeper Michael Hurley, but defenders Kris Frick and Marlon Bennett recovered to break up the play.
The Panthers made the most of their best chance, as Rob Philippou sent a cross from right wing and Forman headed it into the net past NJIT keeper Collin Cunning at 82:01 for the only scoring of the game.
Cunning, who played the second half in goal for the Highlanders, made one save, while Josh Osit, who played the first half, stopped three shots. Adelphi's Hurley got two saves en route to the shutout.
NJIT, in its third season playing at the Division I level and in its second as a championship-eligible program, continued to show progress. Winless in 2004, the Highlanders won once in 2005, but they began 2006 with a 5-0 win over Iona and went on to win two more times.
That 5-0 win was NJIT's highest output in Division I and the most in a game since 2001. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, that outburst in the opener was the exception and they did not score more than two goals in a game the rest of the way.
Their defensive numbers remained solid, however, as they allowed 28 goals in 16 games, compared to 30 goals in 17 games a year ago. They recorded three shutouts and both goalkeepers, Josh Osit and Collin Cunning, earned ASC Player/Goalie of the Week honors.
NJIT opened conference play with a tie against defending champion Hartwick and the Highlanders later earned their first-ever Division I road win when they defeated Longwood at Longwood.
Only one game was started by a senior and of the 17 players who appeared in at least 10 games, nine were in their first seasons playing for NJIT and seven were in their second seasons.
"The young players getting quality minutes is definitely going to help us as we go forward, but it's something of a double-edged sword" said coach Pedro Lopes. "They're getting their experience, but they don't come with experience at the college level and they don't have experience with each other. As a result, there were too many times, especially early in the season, where we would outplay our opponents and we wouldn't capitalize.
"We're going to take a couple of days to reflect on our season and look at where we stand and what we have to do to get better. But we're definitely looking forward to next year and the fact that we'll have a lot of players with one or two years of Division I college experience under their belts."
