EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's soccer team returned to Lions Stadium for its first home match in 682 days tonight. The Lions' homecoming turned out to be a good one as they defeated FDU-Florham by a final score of 2-0.
Two early goals from TCNJ (1-2) gave the Lions a commanding lead in the first 20 minutes. It took only four minutes for the first to come, as
Luke Pascarella found the back of the net
4:29 into the match.
Alex Quezada took a give-and-go pass from
Ryan Santos on the left side, then Quezada pushed the ball low on the left goal line. He found Pascarella in the center with a pretty pass, and the sophomore forward buried it from eight yards out for his second goal of the campaign.
Justin Dominique extended the advantage to 2-0 in the 19
th minute. A deflected pass bounced towards
Jason Tango, who challenged the ball and found an open Dominique inside of the box. Dominique took a couple of touches and fired a low left shot for his first goal of the year.
The Lions' defense was able to hold the 2-0 advantage. In the 27
th minute, the Devils had a point-blank shot from in close, but TCNJ goalkeeper
Julian Franco came up with the save to keep the shutout alive.
Franco recorded two saves and earned his first shutout along with his first victory of his career.
TCNJ held a 17-9 edge in shots and a 10-3 lead in corner kicks on the night.
The Lions will return to the pitch for the Rutgers-Newark tournament this weekend. TCNJ will face Moravian on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
