JERSEY CITY, NJ – Sophomore forward Patryk Dawidczyk scored off of a corner kick with just 2:09 left in the second overtime to lift Rutgers-Newark to a heart-stopping 5-4 win over New Jersey City in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Dawidczyk redirected a corner kick from the left side by senior midfielder Nick Kyprianou into the right side of the goal to complete a wild come-from-behind triumph for the Scarlet Raiders (10-5, NJAC 3-3) over the Gothic Knights (10-5, NJAC 2-3).  The sophomore also netted the goal that sent the battle into overtime.

Dawidczyk put away a feed by sophomore forward Edgar Abreu in the 83rd minute to even the match for the second time.  The ball slipped inside the left post to make it 4-4 and set up the frantic finish to regulation.  Freshman goalkeeper Matt Broomall had a save and the Raiders blocked another NJCU shot in the closing minutes to preserve the tie.

Broomall finished with four saves to get the win while NJCU junior goalkeeper Sheldon Parkinson made 12 saves to keep his team in the fray.

After Rutgers-Newark fell behind 3-0 just five minutes into the second half, senior midfielder Gabriel Avans ignited a furious Raider comeback to knot the score in the 66th minute.  Sophomore midfielder Ardian Djeka broke down an NJCU defender and slipped a lead pass to unmarked senior forward William Munoz to break the ice for the Raiders in the 56th minute.

Avans, who played for three seasons at NJCU before transferring to Rutgers-Newark for his senior year, fired a free kick into the top left side of the goal from the top of the box at 57:40 to trim the lead to one.  He then slid onto a loose ball in the box, pushing a goal inside the left post with 24:35 left to level the match at 3-3.

But, NJCU senior forward Nana Kofi Kusi put a shot inside the near post from 15 yards out on the left side just 59 seconds later to put the Gothic Knights back into the lead at 4-3.

The Gothic Knights struck just 17:16 into the match when junior defender Mohamed Conteh headed a line drive throw from the right side over Broomall who had come off the line to challenge the throw in.  Freshman forward Alec Metsch made the pin-point throw for NJCU.

Senior midfielder Eduardo Tejada took a crossing pass from the right end line by sophomore midfielder Marco Avella and fired in a 12-yard shot to give the Gothic Knights a 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

Kyprianou put a pair of shots on goal in the opening half with a free kick in the fourth minute and a shot in the box in the 37th, but Parkinson stopped those plus tries by junior defender Robi Rosario, Abreu and sophomore midfielder Diego Moraes to send NJCU into intermission with the lead.  Rutgers-Newark out-shot the Gothic Knights, 7-6, while each team took two corner kicks.

The scoring spree broke a string of three consecutive shutout wins over the Gothic Knights for the Raiders but pushed the winning streak against NJCU to four.  It was the Raiders' first double-overtime match of the season with their only other overtime experience being a 1-0 single overtime loss to Swarthmore in their second match of the season.

Rutgers-Newark extended its winning streak to a season's long five matches.

Rutgers-Newark hosts Rowan on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in another NJAC test while New Jersey City travels to Montclair State for a 6 p.m. match.