New Jersey City University Athletics

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JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior striker JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union) netted her 13^th hat trick as a Gothic Knight and her second three-goal effort against Rutgers-Newark in three years and senior striker JENNIFER ALBUJA (Union City, NJ/Hoboken) contributed a pair of assists as New Jersey City University upended the Scarlet Raiders, 4-1, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference women's soccer game on Wednesday at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field. NJCU led 4-1 at halftime.
 
Caseres and Albuja moved into fourth place in Division III history with a combined 418 career points and have now combined for 180 career goals—an all-time Division III record.
 
NJCU improves to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in the NJAC while Newark drops to 4-11 and 0-4 in league play. Newark leads the all-time series, 10-2. NJCU outshot Newark 26-7 and improves to 7-1 at home this season, 17-2-1 in its last 20 home games and 24-4-1 in Jersey City over the last three years.
 
Rookie defender DEVON WILLIAMS (Neptune City, NJ/Neptune) notched her first career goal, and her marker proved to be the game-winner. Senior stopper ERICA BUONACQUISTA (Aberdeen, NJ/Bayonne) provided one assist.
 
Newark's only goal came from freshman midfielder Sarah Cunha (Hillside, NJ/Union Catholic) with junior forward Liana Abreu (Newark, NJ/Science Park) earning an assist.
 
Freshman keeper BRITTANY HOFFMAN (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) earned the win, making one save as NJCU limited the visitors to two shots on goal. Raider freshman Victoria Nunez (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) made four saves.
 
Caseres increased her four-year collegiate totals to 232 points on 96 goals and 40 assists while Albuja extended her career marks to 186 points on 84 goals and 18 assists. Albuja also became NJCU's all-time leader in games played and games started with 74, while contributing her seventh and eighth assists of the season.
 
The 'A-C Connection' entered the game with 410 combined points and passed two other scoring combinations for the fourth most in Division III history. The record is 432 combined points, set by Kalamazoo College in 1993.
 
Meanwhile, Caseres, who bagged her second consecutive hat trick in the game while notching her 16^th, 17^th and 18^th  goals of the season, continues to climb the NCAA Division III scoring charts. She is now 17^th in Division III history in points and tied for 20^th in career goals.
 
Caseres, who played for Rutgers-Newark as a freshman in 2008, scored the first, third and fourth goals for NJCU against her former club.
 
Just 9:39 into the game, the A-C Connection got on the board as Albuja flicked a header pass into the box from just outside the 18 and Caseres unleashed a shot into the upper right corner for a 1-0 lead.
 
After Albuja narrowly missed scoring in the 13^th minute with a maneuver on the endline, Albuja and Caseres each had shots carom off the crossbar in the span of six seconds in the 15^th minute. NJCU had three shots hit the crossbar in the game, and another pass ricochet off the post. Albuja just missed a header in the goalmouth midway through the 36^th minute.
 
NJCU and Newark would score four goals in a span of 5:33 in the waning minutes of the opening half. At 37:52 NJCU gained a 2-0 lead as Williams scored her first collegiate marker on an odd play. Williams dribbled up the near right sideline and attempted a long, aerial pass to a Gothic Knight forward. But her long, high pass was misjudged by Nunez, bouncing over her head and into the net from 45 yards.
 
Less than 90 seconds later, Newark made it a one-goal game. Abreu hit the crossbar at 38:30. Then at 39:16, she drove the left endline and slid a shot along the goal line that glanced off the right post, where Cunha tucked home the rebound before the Knights could clear it, making it 2-1 with her second goal of the season.
 
But less than two minutes later, Caseres struck again for a 3-1 lead as Buonacquista slipped a thru ball up the middle of the field. That sent Caseres into the box on a breakaway, and she uncorked a shot into the left of the target from 10 yards in a 1-on-1 at 40:54.
 
NJCU made it a 4-1 game at the 43:25 mark as Albuja played a ball to Caseres from the far left wing onto the left endline. Caseres dribbled along the endline and on a difficult angle was able to finish a shot into the top right corner.
 
Buonacquista, along with Williams, senior defender NICOLE SARICA (Linden, NJ/Linden) and rookie sweeper JANINE CASALE (Kenilworth, NJ/David Brearley), played another dominant game in the backfield. Buonacquista had a pair of solid scoring chances in the 61^st and 70^th minutes before Nunez made goal-preventing stops.
 
Sophomore center midfielder BRIANNA TAYLOR (Linden, NJ/Linden) nearly curved home a shot from 30 yards off the top of the goal. Junior midfielder ANGELICA GLOVER (Union, NJ/Union Catholic) hit the crossbar on a shot in the 75^th minute and missed left on a breakaway chance in the 80^th minute. Junior midfielder #CHELSEA SPETHMANN# (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Hasbrouck Heights-Wood Ridge), playing in her first game of the season after battling a preseason leg injury, hit the left post with a cross with nine minutes remaining.
 
NJCU is back in action on Saturday, October 15 at 1 p.m. in an important NJAC game at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ. The Raiders host Rowan University that day at 7:30 p.m.