Box Score 

WAYNE, N.J. – Kean (9-10-3) advanced to the championship match of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men's Soccer Tournament thanks to a 4-1 penalty-kick advantage against host William Paterson (13-3-3) in the semifinal round Nov. 2. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes.

The sixth-seeded Cougars will play at top-seeded The College of New Jersey in the NJAC Tournament final Friday, Nov. 5, at 7:00 p.m. The Lions got past Montclair State in a shootout, 3-1, in the other semifinal match.

Guilherme Argollo started the shootout for Kean, and despite his attempt being partially blocked by Pioneer keeper Zach Collins (Bayville, N.J./Central Regional), the ball rolled in to the netting. William Paterson's Matthew Heitmann (Westwood, N.J./St. Joseph Regional) scored to the right side to even the shootout at 1-1, but Kean's Tiago Goetzke easily found the open net on the left side, making it a 2-1 Kean edge. Goalkeeper Alfredo Oquendo, who had been inserted late in the second overtime period in order to be eligible for the PKs, came up big when he dove to his right and stopped Mike Lowe's (Wilmington, Del./Alexis I. DuPont) attempt. Abner Denis' shot was untouched, rolling into the left side of the netting and handing Kean a 3-1 advantage. Senior Ryan Miller (Colonia, N.J./Colonia) sent his penalty kick over the crossbar for William Paterson, and Dennis Correia finished it off for the Cougars with his strike to the right side, clinching the best-of-five series for Kean.

Several scoring opportunities arose for the second-seeded Pioneers in the first half. During the first two minutes of the match, a floating ball from the right side from Julian Valerio (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) found Kene Eze (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) on the left side of the goal, but his shot sailed wide right. During the 26th minute of play, Valerio crossed a ball, bringing the Cougar goalkeeper out of the net, but Tyler Callahan did enough to disrupt Lowe and he was unable to finish at the mouth of the goal.

Kean was the first team to get on the scoreboard when Correia's corner kick was played into traffic inside the box and Collins' clearance attempt ricocheted in less than three minutes into the second period. William Paterson evened up the contest 10 minutes later on a pretty combination between Miller and NJAC Defensive Player of the Year Chris Belan (Howell, N.J./Freehold Twp.), a ball that the senior struck to the right side of the frame for his second goal in as many matches against the Cougars.

Kean's Danny Olivo knocked a shot off the crossbar with less than 14 minutes remaining in the second half, and Kharee Winslow got loose on a breakaway seven minutes later before Collins was able to charge off his line and get enough of the ball to send it high and over the frame.

Each side had a quality chance in the first extra session. Midway through the period, Lowe's blast just missed at the right post, while Correia's free kick was too high a minute later. Kean had the best opportunity of the second overtime, but Jake Weinberg's (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) bicycle kick cleared a ball off the line at the right post with 7:11 remaining.

Collins had five saves for William Paterson, and Callahan had four for Kean.