The Berkeley College New Jersey men's soccer team dropped its third consecutive contest on Saturday evening, falling to the Devils of FDU-Florham by a score of 3-1 in a game played at Robert T. Shields Field in Madison, NJ. With the loss, the Knights dipped to a mark of 1-5 on the 2015 campaign, while the Devils improved their record to 3-3-1.
With the score tied 1-1 in the second-half, FDU-Florham's A.J. Carnevale's scored the game-winning goal in the 65th minute (65:23), and the Devils tacked on an additional goal less than 90 seconds later later to put the game away.
The Devils had several opportunities to score in the opening session, but Knights newcomer Nick Araujo dazzled in net in the opening 45 minutes, recording eight first-half saves to keep FDU-Florham at bay. At the half, the game was scoreless.
Finally in the 56th minute, a sharp corner kick from George Batista found the head of Sebastian Gallo who tapped the ball past Araujo for the game's first goal. FDU-Florham's lead was short lived as Knights veteran Bryan Costa recorded the game-tying goal just 10 seconds later by blasting the ball into the upper left corner of the net from 15 yards out.
In the 65th minute, Carnevale took a long cross from Gio Aiello out of the air and one-timed the ball into the right side of the net to put the Devils up 2-1. Later – at the 66:50 mark of the session – Andrew Ruane netted an insurance goal, collecting a pass from Jose Guardado and tapping the ball into the corner of the net give FDU-Florham a commanding two goal lead at 3-1 with just over 23 minutes remaining.
Arauajo finished with nine saves in the loss, while FDU-Florham goalkeeper Nick Mihalik made one save to earn the win. FDU-Florham held a 21-5 edge in the shots category, and the Knights were whistled for 10 fouls compared to eight for the Devils.
Berkeley College will return to action on Monday afternoon, as the Knights will travel to Mahwah, NJ to take on the Roadrunners of Ramapo College. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 4:00pm.
