After scoring five goals in three games, including the game-winners in NJCU’s 1-0 victories over #6 ranked Stevens Institute of Technology and Johnson and Wales University in the 2005 NJCU/adidas® Liberty Cup, freshman forward JUAN ESPINOZA, the tournament Most Valuable Player and the New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week, has been selected as the NJCU Men's Student-Athlete of the Week.
NJCU is 4-1 overall and has won 11 of its last 12 games dating to 2004. The Gothic Knights repeated as Liberty Cup Champions in a tournament field that included four teams which won conference or ECAC titles in 2004, and two schools which entered nationally ranked.
In the 1-0 win over #6 Stevens on Saturday, September 10, Espinoza won it for the Knights with just 2:43 remaining with a shot from the left wing that slipped inside the right post on a seemingly impossible angle. It is the only goal Stevens has allowed this season in three games, and NJCU’s fourth win over a Top 25 team since Kevin East became head coach in 1998.
After sealing the Stevens game in the waning minutes, Espinoza wasted no time in recording his second game-winner of the tournament on Sunday. Just 2:14 into the contest, Espinoza headed in his fifth goal of the season—all coming in three games this week—slipping a hard shot inside the post off a perfect cross from the deep right wing.
The highly touted freshman opened the week by notching three second half goals—the first three of his career—and registering a hat trick, as NJCU crushed John Jay College, 8-1 on September 7.
Espinoza, who played only 23 minutes in NJCU’s first two games with a leg injury, needed only 20 minutes of reserve time to make a dent among NJCU’s statistical leaders by scoring the final three goals of the game.
Espinoza notched his first career goal at 65:10 on a 1-on-1 breakaway, concluded by using several nifty moves to fool the John Jay keeper for a 6-0 advantage. He added his second goal of the game at 75:31, when he made a steal on the far left wing and rifled an unassisted shot into the right corner. He capped the scoring at 78:39, when he pounced on a thru ball and in a similar play as his first goal, fooled the keeper during a 1-on-1 breakaway.
For the season, Espinoza leads the club with five goals and is tied for the team high with 10 points. Last week he averaged 1.67 goals and 3.33 points per game.
In the NJAC statistical standings, Espinoza is tied for the conference lead in goals per game (1.25) and game-winning goals (2). He also ranks tied for second in goals (5), third in points per game (2.50), and tied for third in total points (10).
