Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
NJIT
Bucknell Men's Soccer Closes Home Slate with 2-0 Blanking of NJIT
10/26/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 26, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Tommy Caso (Phoenix, Md./McDonogh) pulled Bucknell through some rough early moments with a handful of highlight-reel saves, and New Jersey natives Brendan Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J./Pingry School) and Vinny Cinotti (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) handled the goal-scoring in a 2-0 non-league win over New Jersey Institute of Technology on Tuesday night at Emmitt Field. With the victory, the Bison moved back over the .500 mark at 7-6-2 while holding the Highlanders scoreless for the fifth straight year.
In the final regular-season home game of 2010, Caso was called upon to make his first start since Sept. 25, and he was at his very best early. In the opening 24 minutes of the game he made three point-blank saves, robbing Papis Ciss twice and Pete Walker once, rescuing an uncharacteristically tentative back line.
Once the Bison settled in, however, they took control of the game and NJIT had very few quality chances over the final hour of the contest.
Tommy McCabe (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney), who had already cracked a shot off the left post, made a perfect pass from the left wing to set up Bucknell's first goal at the 28:13 mark. Travis Rand (Westfield, Maine/Westfield) played McCabe into open space on the left side, and McCabe then threaded a perfect pass between the goalkeeper and the last defender right on to the foot of Burgdorf, who tapped in his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Burgdorf tied Alassane Kane for the Patriot League goal-scoring lead, while McCabe took over sole possession of the league lead in assists with his seventh of the year.
Only 2:30 later, the Bison put another goal on the board, this one courtesy of another sophomore in Cinotti. Mayowa Alli (Lanham, Md./Bishop McNamara) sent a long throw-in into the penalty area, and after the ball grazed an NJIT player, Cinotti buried a left-footed shot for his first career goal.
Bucknell almost had a third goal five minutes later, but John Ricketti made a diving save on a hard drive from CK Kumah (Accrah, Ghana/Hotchkiss School).
Bucknell substituted liberally in the second half but were much more organized than in the early going. NJIT's best chance came on a hard, low drive from Angel Gomez from 20 yards out, but Caso was well-positioned for the save.
Caso finished with seven saves in the match, while Ricketti had five. Bucknell finished with a 16-13 shot advantage and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
Bucknell is now 5-0-2 all-time against the Highlanders and have not been scored upon since 2005.
Next up for the Bison is a key Patriot League match against Lafayette in Easton, Pa., on Saturday at 3 p.m. Bucknell is tied for fourth place with eight points (2-1-2), and with two league games remaining it will likely have to add to that total in order to qualify for the four-team Patriot League Tournament.
