NEWARK, NJ—Senior
Cristian Marcel's unassisted goal in the 69th minute was the difference for NJIT, which defeated visiting Sacred Heart 1-0 in men's soccer Wednesday night on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
NJIT, unbeaten in its last seven contests, with four wins and three ties, ran its season record to 5-2-3 with Wednesday night's win, which marked the third shutout in the last four contests for the Highlanders and sophomore goalkeeper
Christian Foust.
The defeat dropped the visiting Pioneers to 0-9-1 on the season and was their seventh consecutive loss.
NJIT had a 14-5 lead in total shots, including 6-1 in shots on goal and the corner kicks were even at six apiece.
Foust, the NJIT goalkeeper, needed just one save for his third personal clean sheet of the season (he also played 85:18 in a 1-0 victory over Marist). Junior Tucker Hackett made five stops in goal for Sacred Heart.
The game's only score came at 68:05, when Marcel's hard shot from the top of the box grazed a Sacred Heart defender and made a slight change of direction as it spun into the net past the goalkeeper, Hackett. The goal was the second game-winner for Marcel and his third goal overall, tying him with classmate
Marko Drljic for the 2014 team lead. Marcel also scored the game-winner in the season-opening 3-2 win at Jacksonville.
The goal came just 68 seconds after a near-miss for Marcel on a direct free kick from 20 yards out late in the 67th minute. Marcel's free kick cleared the Sacred Heart wall and was beyond the reach of a diving Hackett, but the try went just wide at the intersection of the crossbar and the right post.
Foust, the NJIT goalkeeper, made just one save all night, but it was a big one, denying Sacred Heart's Mahmoud Kafel in the 15th minute to keep the game scoreless.
The play was the result of an NJIT miscue, combined with a fortunate bounce that favored the Pioneers. The miscue was a giveaway by the Highlander defense inside the top of penalty area, but NJIT seemed to recover, breaking up the ensuing Sacred Heart pass attempt. But the ball caromed hard on the break-up and bounced straight to Kafel, whose alert one-time shot appeared ticketed for the back of the net, but was stopped by Foust on a reflex save.
NJIT's best chance of the first half came in the 30th minute, when
Nikola Gogic got off a header on a corner kick, but the shot went straight into the chest of the Sacred Heart keeper Hackett.
Highlander
Ansel Ueshiro had a strong run that resulted in two shots in the 59th minute. The sophomore carried the ball into the box and made his way through traffic for a short shot that was saved by Hackett. The rebound came back to Ueshiro, but his follow-up try seconds after his first attempt was blocked by the Pioneer defense.
With the end of pre-conference play drawing near, the Highlanders will visit defending Northeast Conference champion St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday at 1 pm. The game will played at Brooklyn Bridge Park Piers on the banks of the East River.
The Terriers, who stumbled out of the gate 0-4 to begin the season, are unbeaten in their last six, with four wins and two ties. St. Francis has not allowed a goal in its last five games (four wins and a scoreless tie in the last contest at UAlbany on September 30).