NEWARK, NJ (November 15, 2008) – Freshman forward Chris Roncancio (Clifton, NJ/Clifton HS) fired in the deciding goal on the final shootout kick and sophomore Kyle Perdelwitz (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) made three stops in the shootout round as Rutgers-Newark advanced to the ECAC Metro Men’s Soccer Championship final, edging heavily-favored New Jersey City, 3-2, in the shootout after a 3-3 tie through two overtimes.
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The Scarlet Raiders (10-9-1) move on to Monday’s championship match against the winner of the William Paterson and Farmingdale State semifinal match which was postponed until tomorrow at 1 o’clock because of field conditions in Wayne. The Gothic Knights finished their season with an 11-5-4 mark.
Sophomore forward Jeff Vazquez (New Milford, NJ/New Milford HS) broke the school single-season record for goals with his 17th goal of the season which gave the Raiders a brief 3-2 in the 68th minute. He shattered R-N Athletic Hall of Famer Danny Lopes’ 1994 record of 16 goals. Vazquez needed 20 games to match Lopes’ 16-match total.
Perdelwitz stopped back-to-back attempts by NJCU’s Bilbao brothers – seniors Jonathan and Edison (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep) to keep the shootout score at 2-2 before Roncancio fired a shot into the right side of the net past diving sophomore goalkeeper Andre Viola (Clifton, NJ/St. Joseph’s Regional) to end the marathon.
Vazquez’s goal came on the transition after Perdelwitz blocked a penalty kick by senior midfielder Christian Acuna (East Newark, NJ/Harrison). The Raiders hustled the ball up the left side with sophomore forward Robert Campos (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) crossing the ball into the box to Vazquez who pivoted to his left and fired a shot into the left post.
But, Acuna took a cross from the left side by sophomore midfielder Eduardo Tejada (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) in the middle and delivered the tying goal to the left side of the net at 69:57 to set up the overtime periods.
Raider sophomore Innocent Buule (West New York, NJ/Memorial) scored on a breakaway feed from Campos in the 18th minute to stake R-N to the early lead, but senior midfielder Miguel Fontan (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) collected a loose ball and fired in a shot from 20 yards out in the 28th minute to send the teams to the half knotted a 1-1.
Tejada took a drop pass from Edison Bilbao and banked a goal off the left side of the crossbar from 40 yards out in the 47th minute to give the Gothic Knights their first only lead before junior sweeper Luis Valle (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) drilled a 35-yard restart kick from the right side over a stunned Viola who got a hand on the shot only to watch it nestle inside the left post to make it 2-2 in the 53rd minute.
In the shootout, Perdelwitz and Viola each blocked attempts off the left side of the crossbar before each allowed back-to-back goals into the right side of the net. Fontan and senior midfielder Gonzalo Dapia (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) scored for NJCU while freshman midfielder Jorge Garcia (Union, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep) and sophomore forward Christien Valhinich (Montvale, NJ/St. Joseph’s Regional) answered with tallies to set up the final sequence.
Monday's shot at the ECAC Metro title will be the first in R-N history.