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ESPN TOP 10 PLAY EDITIONS: October 3, 2013
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JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the second time in less than a span of a month,
New Jersey City University has had a men's soccer highlight featured nationally on ESPN, with the program's most accomplished player and lone senior, garnering the attention.
The video highlight of NJCU All-NJAC and All-Region senior defensive midfielder
MOHAMED CONTEH (Trenton, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro North) scoring an insurance goal from more than 30 yards out in the 85
th minute on October 2 in the Gothic Knights' 2-0 New Jersey Athletic Conference home victory over rival Kean University was featured as the No. 8 play on the 'Top Plays' segment of ESPN's
SportsCenter on October 3, airing during the 12 a.m., West Coast/overnight and morning editions throughout the day.
For NJCU, which has had a highlight featured on ESPN's flagship program every year since 2009, the
Conteh clip marked the first time in school history that the Knights have made 'Top Plays' twice in the same season.
On September 4-5, a magnificent goal by NJCU junior defender
EDWIN UMANZOR (Linden, NJ/Linden) was the No. 3 'Top Play' in the country. The highlight marks the fifth time since 2009 that a men's or women's soccer play has been selected as a Top 10 play by ESPN.
Conteh, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound Business Management major in his second year at NJCU, is a two-year team co-captain and a 2012 NCAA Division III NSCAA All-South Atlantic Region Third Team and Second-Team All-NJAC selection as a back.
The play happened at 84:19 of the second half and was a critical insurance goal to help NJCU put away a close game against the rival Cougars. Junior center midfielder
MARCO AVELLA (Union, NJ/Union) played a ball towards the near left sideline from midfield to
Conteh who took two dribbles and unleashed a scintillating left-footed shot from more than 30 yards out that was perfectly placed just underneath the crossbar and over the leaping hands of Kean goalkeeper
Brad Watkins, for his third goal of the season.
The play is the sixth ever known instance of an NJCU athletics highlight being featured on
SportsCenter and one of more than a dozen times a Gothic Knight team or student-athlete has been chronicled by the ESPN family of networks since 2007. Other than the
Umanzor, recently, the men's soccer team had a Top 10 play in October, 2009 while the women's soccer team had a Top Play in October, 2010 and again in October 2011. The men's volleyball team also had a No. 1 blooper reel highlight in February, 2013.
"I think there was a slight tinge of luck involved in it but it was a great ball and their goalkeeper is a pretty good player" second-year head coach
Patrick Snyder said of
Conteh's Top 10 goal. "To get that ball snuck in like that was huge for us to give us a little bit of breathing room in the second half."
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
