New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Sophomore defender DEVON WILLIAMS (Neptune City, NJ/Neptune) scored two second half goals off corner kick assists from freshman midfielder KAITLYN LIMA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) and New Jersey City University defeated Hendrix College (Arkansas), 3-1, in a non-conference  women's soccer game on September 16 at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.

NJCU (2-4-2) snapped a two-game losing and four-game winless streak, outshooting Hendrix (4-3), 21-8, including a staggering 16-2 in the second half, when the Gothic Knights had 12 of the first 13 shots. The Warriors three-game winning streak was snapped and Hendrix finished its two-game New York/New Jersey trip with a 1-1 record.
 
It was NJCU's first meeting with Hendrix, the first against a school from the Southern Athletic Association, and the most southern school the Knights have ever faced in the 20-year history of women's soccer at the University.
 
Williams netted her second and third goals of the season, breaking a 1-1 tie in the 49^th minute before adding a key insurance goal in the 66^th minute. Lima, who tallied her second and third assists of the season, also scored the first goal of the game and second of her career just 3:18 into the action off an assist from senior forward BRIANNA TAYLOR (Linden, NJ/Linden).
 
Sophomore goalkeeper BRITTANY HOFFMAN (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) made three saves to claim the victory in front of a defensive unit that allowed only four shots on goal. Williams, senior AMANDA SPETHMANN (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Hasbrouck Heights-Wood Ridge), junior KARLA REYES-ABRIL (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) and freshman KAYLA LOCKARD (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) each played a full 90 minutes of smothering defense in front of Hoffman.
 
Hendrix scored its lone goal at the 34:09 mark of the first half when senior forward Rebecca Rahn (Little Rock, AR/Little Rock Central) buried a game-tying penalty kick into the right side of the net—her fifth goal of the season—after a foul in the box. Senior goalkeeper Megan Childress (Bryant, AR/Bryant) made three saves against three goals.
 
NJCU opened the scoring in the early fourth minute as Taylor dribbled up the right wing and made a feed to a  cutting Lima on the right post, who pounded home a shot to the outside of the keeper in a 1-on-1.
 
Hendrix had a 6-5 edge in first half shots but only put one on goal—the penalty kick in the 35^th minute. Neither side had many dangerous scoring chances in the period.
 
But the second half was all Gothic Knights, who dominated possession of the ball as demonstrated by the huge shot differential.
 
The Knights got the eventual game winner just 3:25 into the second half as Lima aired out a corner kick from the left side into the middle of the box and Williams buried a right-footed one-timer inside the right post for a 2-1 lead.
 
Hoffman kept the Knights in front at the 58:44 mark when she stuffed Hendrix leading scorer Mel Roach (Russellville, AR/Russellville), who entered the contest with eight goals, in a 1-on-1. At the 64:40 mark, Spethmann did a solid job of breaking up a 1-on-1 with Roach in another potential scoring situation.
 
Then in a repeat of NJCU's second goal, Lima and Williams hooked up again for a scoring play. At 65:37, Lima unleashed another corner, this time from the right endline, which Williams stuck inside the right of the net from a few yards out. Taylor later hit the crossbar in the 84^th minute before NJCU sealed the win with a smothering second half defensive effort.
 
NJCU is back on the pitch on Wednesday, September 19 at 4 p.m. when it hosts Ramapo College in New Jersey Athletic Conference action. Hendrix returns to Conway, AR for a home game on September 18 against Central Baptist.