New Jersey men's team soccer drops season opener to Crusaders, falling to Christendom 2-1 on Friday evening

New Jersey men's team soccer drops season opener to Crusaders, falling to Christendom 2-1 on Friday evening

The Berkeley College New Jersey men's soccer team opened its 2018 season on Friday evening, dropping a tough contest to the Crusaders of Christendom by a score of 2-1 in Front Royal, Virginia.

The Knights' loss snapped their two-match winning streak against the Crusaders, as Berkeley had defeated Christendom in each of the past two campaigns, and hadn't lost to the Crusaders since back on October 4, 2015 (a 2-0 defeat).

All of the combined scoring transpired in the opening half of the match, with Christendom getting on the scoreboard first when Joe O'Reilly would score 9:08 in. James Foeckler picked up an assist on the score. Exactly seven minutes later, Shabthai Abellard would find the back of the net (off a pass from Julio Flores) to tie the contest at a goal apiece. 32 seconds after the Abellard goal, however, Mark LaRochelle would put the Crusaders ahead for good, zipping a ball past Knights netminder Robert Parker. At that point, Christendom held a 2-1 advantage, and would never relinquish that lead.

Carlos Pardo Gasque picked up the victory in net for Christendom, as he stopped six shots while allowing just the one goal. Parker put forth a valiant effort for Berkeley, yielding two tallies while stopping five shots.

The Knights held a 17-10 lead in the shots category despite the loss.

Berkeley will look to bounce back tomorrow evening, as the Knights will travel to Takoma Park, Maryland to face the Washington Adventist Shock. Start-time is scheduled for 8:30pm.