New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior forward JENNIFER ALBUJA (Union City, NJ/Hoboken) netted her 11^th career game with at least six points, notching two goals and two assists, and senior striker JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union) added a pair of markers, including the 80^th of her collegiate career, as the New Jersey City University women's soccer team opened its 19^th season with a 6-1 non-conference victory over King's College (Pa.), on Thursday afternoon at the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Field.
 
NJCU (1-0) and King's (0-1) were tied at halftime after scoring a pair of goals just 46 seconds apart in the opening period before the Gothic Knights outshot the Monarchs 21-7 in the second half and chalked up five goals. NJCU outshot King's, 32-13 overall in the win. NJCU is 11-1-1 in its last 13 home games since 2009 and 18-3-1 overall in Jersey City in the last three years.
 
Freshman midfielder OLYMPIA SCIORTINO (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) and sophomore center midfielder BRIANNA TAYLOR (Linden, NJ/Linden) each scored single goals in their first career games for NJCU. Junior midfielder AMANDA SPETHMANN (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Hasbrouck Heights—Wood-Ridge) and sophomore defender KARLA REYES-ABRIL (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) posted single assists in the win.
 
NJCU rookie goalkeeper BRITTANY HOFFMAN (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) made five saves to register her first NCAA victory. NJCU also had one team save by senior defender NICOLE SARICA (Linden, NJ/Linden).
 
Albuja contributed to each of NJCU's first four goals in the game; she scored the first and third goals and assisted on the second and fourth tallies. That was enough to lift the three-time All-NJAC performer into sixth place in NJAC women's soccer history with 148 career points (68 goals, 12 assists).
 
Caseres, the all-time leading scorer in conference history among men or women, increased her career totals to 80 goals and 192 points (32 assists). In three seasons at NJCU, she has now collected 13 games with five or more points. She attempted 11 shots in the game, including five on goal.
 
“It was a nice start to a long season and I hope we can build come momentum here,” said sixth-year head coach ROBERT BIELAN. “We are still learning how we want to play and we want to continue to build on this. I'm very proud of how the girls stepped up in the second half. At halftime we discussed moving the ball quicker up the field and they executed that plan in the second half.”
 
King's rookie goalkeeper Lauren Duguid (West Chester, PA/West Chester East) collected 11 saves, including a penalty kick stop against Caseres.
 
Before NJCU scored six unanswered goals, King's struck first at 14:25 of the first half when senior midfielder Brianne Schmidt (Chalfont, PA) redirected a free kick from the right side of the box by senior forward Katie Mangan (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick), getting a piece of a header in front of the net.
 
The Monarchs' lead lasted just 46 seconds as Caseres crossed a ball into the box from the far wing and Albuja one-timed her 67^th career goal down the middle of the net to tie the game at 15:11. Albuja, who had six shots in the game, narrowly missed an open net in the 28^th minute, before the sides went to the half even at one.
 
Just 3:45 into the second period, Sciortino put NJCU ahead to stay, scoring the game-winner on the first shot she attempted in college. Albuja played a ball back from the top of the box that Sciortino settled before blasting a scintillating shot from the deep center of the field, roughly 30 yards from the net that found the target at 48:45.
 
Just over five minutes later, Albuja put NJCU ahead 3-1. Spethmann delivered a thru ball that sent Albuja in on a breakaway against the opposing keeper. She made one move to beat Duguid to her right, before tapping a slow shot down the middle of the box at 54:04—her 68^th career goal.
 
At 60:19 Caseres netted her first goal of the season when Albuja dished a thru ball into the box that was knocked home for a 4-1 margin.
 
After a Taylor attempted a corner kick that was cleared to the far wing by the Monarch defense, NJCU gained a 5-1 cushion as Taylor uncorked an unassisted shot from the deep right corner that beat the opposing keeper high on an extremely difficult angle at 64:08.
 
NJCU concluded the scoring at 81:28 as Reyes-Abril slipped a thru ball past several defenders to a speedy Caseres. With the opposing keeper at the top of the box, challenging her breakaway, Caseres flipped a shot over her head for the 80^th marker of her brilliant career.
 
NJCU will next head to New Paltz, NY to participate in the Michelle Vargas-Robin Memorial Tournament at SUNY New Paltz. On Saturday, September 3, the Knights face SUNY Canton at 1:30 p.m., before meeting the host Hawks on September 4.  
 

NJCU and King's were playing for the first time since 2006. The all-time series is even, 1-1. NJCU is 3-8 all-time against current members of the MAC Freedom conference.