A highly-anticipated New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) men’s soccer clash took place Saturday night at MSU Soccer Park as the no. 18 Montclair State Red Hawks (12-1-4) drew 0-0 with the Stockton University Ospreys (10-4-4) on Senior Night.
The Red Hawks got the game’s first shot on goal in the sixth minute. Senior midfielder Danny Tobon was played into the 18-yard box by a through ball, before taking a right-footed shot on the run that was stopped by Stockton’s goalkeeper Kyle Birmingham. Tight defending by each team inside their own half, especially Stockton, thwarted offense early.
The first dangerous scoring chance of the game also went Montclair State’s way. When a corner kick was headed out to the edge of the 18 by a Stockton player, the ball fell for senior midfielder Kenet Lopez, who one-timed a volley that was saved in the upper right corner of the net by a diving Birmingham.
A couple of minutes later, MSU had its second scoring chance of the game. A long ball played over the top deep into Stockton territory was missed by Stockton defender Noah Jones. Red Hawks’ sophomore midfielder, Logan Neno took possession, made a few moves on the ball, which took him to the edge of the 18 and curled a right-footed effort that went just wide of the right post.
Montclair State Freshman forward Kyle Moore was subbed into the game for senior Danny Tobon in the 38th minute, while Stockton made a change of their own, subbing on forward Christian Pereira for William Lynch.
Six minutes into the second half, MSU applied pressure to Stockton and nearly got the Ospreys to crack. Tobon took a volley from the left side of the box across the face of goal. Tobon’s shot took a deflection and the ball ended up trickling towards the goal line where it was cleared in the nick of time by a Stockton player.
In the 55th minute, Stockton’s Uche Wokocha took a foul on the edge of his 18. The free kick was taken by MSU’s sophomore midfielder, Jake Winchock into the wall. 10 minutes later, MSU had yet another scoring chance. This time sophomore defender Sebastian Lapczynski headed a cross into the lower right area of the goal but his effort was saved by Birmingham. Birmingham ended the night with a career-high seven saves.
Finally, in the 69th minute, Stockton nearly counterpunched Montclair State. Ospreys forward, Aiden Hoenisch caught up to a through ball playing him down the right wing. He then sent a cross across the face of goal that was missed by MSU’s backline. Lynch then slid in to beat his marker to the ball and shot at the same time, but to the rescue came MSU freshman goalkeeper, Pierre Soumeillant who dove over just inside the left post and kept the ball out to keep this match scoreless.
At this point in the match, the chances were few and far between for Stockton. On the other hand, they were coming in bunches for Montclair.
In the 70th minute, Tobon earned a free kick for getting taken down on the edge of Stockton’s 18 and down the left side. Neno took the free kick, but his hard curling shot went just wide of the right post. In the 86th minute, Tobon played a through ball into the box for Monteiro, who took a touch and then a toe-poke on the run which was saved by Birmingham. Shortly thereafter, MSU sent a ball in front of Birmingham that was cleared hastily by a Stockton player. When he cleared it, he also clipped the feet of an MSU player, who went down, but no penalty was given by the referee.
Stockton tried to counter attack by playing long balls from their half into MSU’s half, but they were met with stout resistance from an organized Red Hawk backline.
Montclair State ended the game with 17 shot attempts (seven on goal) to Stockton’s four (one on goal). This clean sheet was Stockton’s third consecutive. That tells a one-sided story even though this game was as tight as could be.
Montclair State’s senior defender, Jackson Perata
On limiting Stockton’s top scorer.
We knew coming in we we’re going to have to keep an eye on him and overall, our backline, our midfield did pretty well of keeping tabs on him. It was definitely no easy task but we keep the clean sheet and we keep moving forward.
Montclair State’s head coach, Todd Tumelty
On his team’s overall performance.
We played a pretty good game, especially better in the second half. Had a lot of chances and unfortunately, couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. That’s soccer, sometimes that happens. Unfortunately, we’ll have to move forward and go find the next win.
On Soumeillant’s game-saving stop.
Yeah, look. We lost a guy on the back post. We just were sleeping a little bit and he came across and did an excellent job. It was a good reaction save and we’re glad we have him on our team.
On what tonight’s performance means going forward.
I thought it was great. I thought we played one of our best games of the year, and, like you said, unfortunately, we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net, but there were definitely signs of improvement and if we can play that way, day-in and day-out, we’re going to have a lot of success going forward.
Although Montclair State has a better overall record than Stockton, the two sit tied for the lead in the NJAC standings based on conference record.
The Red Hawks men’s soccer team will close out their regular season on the road on October 29 against Rutgers-Camden. Stockton will host Kean in Galloway on October 29 for their final regular season match.
