Box Score

Ewing, NJ …The College of New Jersey men's soccer team fell 2-1 in double-overtime to Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham on Thursday night in Lions' Stadium.
 
Freshman AJ Carnevale (Princeton, NJ/West Windsor-North) scored with 44 seconds remaining in the second extra period to give the Devils their third straight win. Junior Brian Nazari (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) assisted on the goal.
 
Junior Kevin McCartney (Old Bridge, NJ/St. Joseph's) scored an unassisted goal for the Lions in the first half, while FDU forward Ryan Hurdes (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) scored the equalizer in regulation off a feed from Emin Matezic (Bronx, NY/BMCC).
 
The loss was a tough one to swallow for the Lions (4-5), who played perhaps their best soccer of the season against the visiting Devils (5-4). TCNJ created an abundance of scoring chances in the second half and overtime periods, but could not cash in as FDU goalkeeper Zachary Bower (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) made 11 saves to record his third victory in net.
 
The Lions took an early lead off a counter-attack in the opening period. McCartney collected a clear off of a Devils' corner kick in front of the midfield line. He had a two-on-two with freshman Greg Perri (Florence, NJ/Florence) on the right side and kept it the entire way, beating his defender before slotting a shot to the far-post corner to put TCNJ up 1-0.
 
Hurdes tied the game 1-1 at the 18:51 mark. He settled a feed off his head from Matezik, took a touch with his foot, and fired a shot that found the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season.
 
The Lions had several quality chances in the second period. Midway through the half, junior Kevin Shaw (Brookside, NJ/West Morris Mendham) hit McCartney in stride with a pass inside the box, but Bower was in position to stop a  point-blank shot. McCartney then threaded a feed to senior Sean Casey (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South), but Bower was up to the task once again to make the save.
 
Casey had another near miss when Shaw sent long cross and the senior midfielder struck a header that carried just past the far post.
 
In overtime, the Lions continued to apply pressure but could not manufacture a finish. FDU nearly iced the game early in the second overtime when Hurdes got free in transition and took the ball in one-on-one on goal. But TCNJ goalkeeper Matt Fredrick (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) made a brilliant stop to keep the game alive. Fredrick finished with four saves.
 
In the final minute, Nazari collected the ball on the right side and pushed the ball between two defenders to Carnevale. He took a dribble inside the box and hit a perfectly-placed shot in the left pocket to close out the game.
 
McCartney played an outstanding game for the Lions as did senior Tyler Cignarella (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell), who played all 109 minutes-plus in the backfield. TCNJ held 23-12 advantage in shots and showed both physical and mental toughness coming back the following night after a 2-1 conference win over Richard Stockton College.
 
TCNJ returns to New Jersey Athletic Conference action on Saturday, September 22 when they visit Montclair State University at 4 p.m.