New Jersey City University Athletics

The world lost Julia Caseres on June 21, 2019 after a year-long battle with cancer, but with her induction into the NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame, her legacy will live on. The all-time leading scorer in New Jersey collegiate soccer history among Division I, II or III players—men or women— Caseres finished her career with exactly 100 goals and 42 assists for 242 points in 86 career games between Rutgers-Newark (2008) and NJCU (2009-11). She ended her career ranked 12^th in Division III history in points and 15^th in goals.
 
As a junior in 2010, she was named a Third-Team D3soccer.com All-American. Caseres was a four-time All-NJAC selection in her career, taking home Second-Team honors in 2009 and 2010, and Honorable Mention status in 2011 and as a freshman at Rutgers-Newark in 2008. 
 
Voted to the prestigious Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Women's Soccer Third Team, becoming just the second women's soccer player in school history to be voted Academic All-America®. She was named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District® II Division III Women's Soccer First Team. Caseres was a two-time winner of NJCU's Thomas M. Gerrity Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2010-11 and 2011-12—the most prestigious honor any New Jersey City student-athlete can receive.
 
Simply put, Caseres led NJCU to by far the three greatest seasons it has ever enjoyed and the only three years of double-digit victories, winning 13, 14 and 14 in successive years. In her three seasons, she led NJCU to a combined 41-24-1 record, a .629 winning percentage, 11 conference victories, a 26-5-1 home record and as high as a No. 24 national ranking—quite the contrast prior to her arrival when NJCU struggled for relevance and often just to field a competitive team.
 
On September 26, 2009, in her first game for NJCU against her former school, Rutgers-Newark, Caseres made a lasting impact on the university when she netted a hat trick against her former team as NJCU won its first NJAC game in 15 years. That 5-1 rout ended a 111-game NJAC winless streak and a 103-game conference losing skid for the Gothic Knights and catapulted her team to a three-year stretch of success that has never been matched.
 
"Julia came to a rebuilding program and instilled in everybody the belief that anything can be accomplished if you work hard enough and stay positive," Bielan recalled. "Her impact of hard work and dedication and sportsmanship that she left on the program is what Julia would want to be remembered for—not her goals or her assists but how she genuinely loved our university, adored her teammates and the respect she gave everyone who met her."
 
"Julia will always be the perfect role model in life," said NJCU Hall-of-Famer Katie Feehan `07 (MS, `09), her assistant coach and long-time friend. "She was a perfect daughter, sister, wife, friend, student, coach, police officer and soccer player. She will always be remembered for her tireless work ethic, drive, love for the game and how she loved, inspired and smiled at everyone around her."