New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…Senior stopper REEM HANA (Iselin, NJ/JFK Memorial), freshman forward ELIANA TINEO (South Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) and freshman forward MICHELLE VASQUEZ (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) each scored twice, and Hana added two assists for a six-point effort, as the New Jersey City University women’s soccer team outshot Medgar Evers College, 41-7, and routed the Cougars, 9-2, in a non-conference women’s soccer game at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.

 

The win for NJCU (2-5) snaps a two-game skid, and increases the Gothic Knights lead in the all-time series to 3-0, including a 16-3 goal differential. MEC falls to 1-3 overall with its second straight loss.

NJCU trailed early, but scored nine consecutive goals to seal the game. NJCU led 3-1 at the half and finished the game with an 11-1 edge in corner kicks.

 

NJCU junior midfielder KATIE FEEHAN (Manasquan, NJ/Wall) contributed two assists to move into a second-place tie on the career assists list with 15, equaling Jackie Rizzo (1993-95). Former teammate CARINE CARVALHEIRO (2001-05) is the all-time leader with 21.

 

Also for the Knights, freshman midfielder MARIA ALCIVAR (West New York, NJ/Memorial) contributed the first goal and assist of her career.  Sophomore defender DEIRDRE D’ERRICO (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) notched her first career goal, and freshman midfielder JESSICA IRIZARRY (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) collected her second goal of the year. Senior midfielder LUCY LONGOBUCCO (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) compiled one assist.

 

NJCU scored two goals in 44 seconds in the 67^th minute and a third just 19 seconds later, while tallying three goals in 1:03 seconds—just 11 seconds shy of the NCAA Division III record for three fastest goals by one team. In all, NJCU scored its final five goals of the game in a span of 6:11.

 

In defeat, MEC senior forward Kay Francis (Brooklyn, NY/Canarsie) tallied her fourth goal of the season, and senior midfielder Tricia Plummer (Brooklyn, NY/Sheepshead Bay) added one score.

After Francis gave MEC a 1-0 lead at 3:42 on a blast from the left wing off a free kick by sophomore defender Deborah Walters (Brooklyn, NY/South Shore), the Cougars continued to lead for nearly 24 minutes, before the Gothic Knight offense got rolling.

 

NJCU tied it at 27:28 as Alcivar sent an opening cross from the deep right sideline. Vasquez turned and fired a shot inside the left post for a 1-1 score.

 

Just over nine minutes later, the Knights took the lead for good as Hana, who had one goal all of last season, used her long-range abilities to notch the game-winner as she lofted a shot from 35 yards away, over the keeper and into the top left corner at 36:32.

 

NJCU built a 3-1 lead at 43:53 as Hana sent a thru ball from midfield that opened Vasquez on a breakaway which she finished inside the right post.

 

In the second half, D’Errico tallied her first collegiate points at 50:59. Hana chipped a pass onto the left wing, which D’Errico netted with an angled shot from left to right.

 

Midway through the second half, the Knights, leading 4-1, began scoring in bunches. Hana made it 5-1 at 66:04 with her second unassisted goal of the game and team-best eighth point of the season, as she again lofted a shot from 35 yards that found a home in the top of the goal. Just 44 seconds later, Feehan crossed a pass from the left, which Tineo knocked into the right side of a wide open net (66:48).

 

Amazingly, the Knights scored again just 19 seconds later (67:07) as Alcivar stole a pass, began a breakaway on the left wing, and angled a shot into the right corner for a 7-1 lead. The two consecutive goals were just nine seconds shy of the 19-second differential—a program record—achieved by Feehan in the final game of the 2005 season.

 

At 70:05, the Knights scored perhaps their most technically sound goal of the game as Feehan aired out a corner kick from the right side, which Irizarry timed perfectly, sending a leaping header into the upper left corner.

 

Tineo capped the NJCU scoring at 72:15 with a blast inside the left post after a thru ball from Longobucco created a breakaway. It was Tineo’s third goal of the season for a share of the team lead.

MEC’s Plummer scored her first goal of the year at 75:01 as a defensive giveaway led to a 1-on-1 breakaway, and a shot into the right corner.

 

Freshman goalkeeper Charlene Brown (Queens, NY/Springfield Gardens) made 10 saves in defeat. Junior goalkeeper ALEXIS CHISARI (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus) made one save. Each team also recorded a team save.

 

NJCU will return to action on Saturday, September 23 at 1 p.m. when it visits Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ for a New Jersey Athletic Conference contest.