NEWBURGH, NY...Senior EDISON BILBAO (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep), the two-time New Jersey Athletic Conference Midfielder of the Year, started as a forward and scored two first-half goals as second-seeded New Jersey City University outshot seventh-seeded Mount Saint Mary College (NY), 28-3, defeating the Blue Knights by a 2-0 margin in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Kaplan Field.
NJCU improves to 11-5-3 and advances to the ECAC Semifinals against #3 seeded Rutgers-Newark, which defeated sixth-seeded Baruch College on Wednesday, 6-1. Although NJCU is the higher seed, the game will be played at RU’s Alumni Field on Saturday, November 15 at 1 p.m. due to other home events in Jersey City. The winner of that semifinal will meet the winner of #1 William Paterson University and #4 Farmingdale State College in the championship game on November 16.
NJCU improves to 16-2-0 all-time against MSMC, while winning the 12th consecutive meeting in the series. That matches the longest winning streak by NJCU over any opponent and the Gothic Knights have a 68-17 scoring margin in 18 games.
The Gothic Knights, making their eighth appearance in the ECAC Metro Tournament, improve to 11-5-1 record in 17 ECAC games for a .676 winning percentage.
Bilbao scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season to give him 25 career goals and moved into fourth place in school history with 79 career points (25 goals, 29 assists). He scored his sixth career game-winner and passed Marc Palumbo (1999-02; 78 points) on the all-time points list.
John Bernal assisted on the game-winning goal.
NJCU, which dominated the contest, particularly in the air and in the midfield, put constant pressure all night on the MSMC defense. It took just 9:03 for NJCU to strike as junior midfielder
JOHN BERNAL (Totowa, NJ/Inem (Medellin, Colombia) slid a thru ball into the top of the box from 25 yards out, setting
Bilbao up for a 1-on-1 situation, before he slammed a shot inside the right post. The assist was
Bernal’s fourth of the year.
Bilbao made it 2-0 at 37:06. Bernal, a First-Team All-NJAC selection as a fullback, stole a ball from a MSMC defender and slipped a pass to Bilbao on the far right wing. Bilbao then dribbled past several defenders, drove to the left endline and buried a shot on a difficult angle for a 2-0 lead.
NJCU outshot the Blue Knights, 17-2 in the first half and 11-1 in the second period, and would have scored several more times if not for the play of MSMC junior keeper Paul Aries (Nashua, NH), who made 12 saves, including several diving stops. Seven NJCU players had multiple shots, led by Bilbao with seven. NJCU won despite being without several players who accounted for 20 of its 54 goals coming in.
NJCU sophomore keeper ANDRE VIOLA (Clifton, NJ/St. Joseph-Montvale) made two saves for his second consecutive shutout and the 13th of his career. The Knights also received a dominant effort from its defensive unit, led by senior center midfielder JONATHA N BILBAO (Carteret, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep), senior defenders GONZALO DAPIA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) and MIKE McCORMICK (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick), junior sweeper JEAN MOMBRUN (Orange, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep) and freshman BRUNO GONCALVES (Kearny, NJ/Kearny), who did not allow a dangerous scoring chance.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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Team Stat Comparison
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NJCU
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MSMC
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Score
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2
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0
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Halftime
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2
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0
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Shots
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28
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3
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Shots On Goal
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14
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2
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Saves
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2
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12
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Corner Kicks
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7
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1
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Fouls
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7
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10
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Offsides
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6
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1
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Caution Cards
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0
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1
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NEWBURGH, NY…
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