MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Early strikes in both halves doomed the William Paterson men's soccer team (9-4-1, 3-3 NJAC) as the Pioneers were upended, 3-1 by Montclair State (10-4-1, 4-2 NJAC) Wednesday afternoon in a conference matchup on the road.
 
Senior JP Gonzales (Paterson, N.J./Passaic County Tech) netted the lone goal for the Pioneers, converting a penalty kick in the opening moments of the match. Gonzales finished with a team-best six shots on the night while sophomore Darwin Cruz (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) added five shots of his own. The shot totals were an even 19 apiece for both squads, but the Red Hawks made good on their opportunities in the contest to take down the Pioneers.
 
It took just 3:52 for the 0-0 score to change, when Collin Mulligan finished off a headed pass from Jorge De La Bandera to give Montclair State the upper hand early. The Pioneers responded immediately however, when the team drew a foul in the penalty area less than two minutes later to set up Gonzales' penalty kick goal to level the scoring 1-1. Despite the early scoring, the tie score carried late into the half. WP had a great opportunity just before the half to jump ahead, but Red Hawks goalkeeper Mike Saalfrank stopped two shots from freshman Christopher Fuentes (Red Bank, N.J./Red Bank Regional) and a third shot was blocked in the box to keep the 1-1 score intact and the teams headed into halftime deadlocked.
 
The tie score did not last long in the second half however, as Montclair State took the lead just 29 seconds into the second stanza when Rafael Terci found Kevin Simek for the strike to go up 2-1. Twenty minutes later the Red Hawks struck again on Mike Taranto's 10th tally of the year. The Pioneers did not go away however, garnering two corner kicks moments later and eventually putting a shot on target when Gonzales found sophomore Keysean Brant-Sharp (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick) with a cross off of a corner kick but Saalfrank was up to the challenge again for another big save. WP recorded four shots in the final ten minutes but it was too little too late as the Pioneers fell by the 3-1 margin.
 
The Pioneers will look for a key victory on Saturday, October 14 when they host Stockton University on homecoming with kickoff slated for 5:30 p.m.
 
For all of the latest information on the Pioneers, visit http://www.wpupioneers.com and http://www.wpupioneers.com/socialmedia.