New Jersey City University Athletics

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ASTON, PA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University's women's soccer team went 19 years before winning a road overtime game on Sunday. All of a sudden the Gothic Knights have won back-to-back OT road thrillers in just four days. Senior striker JENNIFER ALBUJA (Union City, NJ/Hoboken) netted her 70^th career goal off a give-and-go pass from senior striker JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union)—the historic 200^th point of Caseres' career— and rookie goalkeeper BRITTANY HOFFMAN (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) shattered the 16-year-old school record for consecutive scoreless minutes as NJCU improved to 4-0 on the season with a 1-0 double-overtime non-conference victory on Wednesday night.

NJCU opens a season with four consecutive wins for only the second time in school history and the first time since starting the 2008 campaign at 6-0. The Neumann Knights fall to 1-2; it was the second-ever meeting between the schools. NJCU also won 4-0 in October, 2010 in Jersey City and leads the series, 2-0.
 
Meanwhile, NJCU records three consecutive shutouts for the first time in its history. The Gothic Knights outshot Neumann, 15-6 and had a 7-3 edge in corners.
 
Caseres, the reigning New Jersey Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week, became just the 32^nd player in Division III history to achieve 200 career points in women's soccer. Already the all-time leading scorer among men or women in NJAC history, she contributed her third assist of the season and 26^th in three seasons at NJCU, tying the program's career assists mark established by current assistant coach Katie Feehan (2004-07). Caseres now has 83 goals, 34 assists and 200 points in 68 career games at NJCU (2009-11) and Rutgers-Newark (2008).
 
Hoffman, this week's NJAC Rookie of the Week, entered only her fourth NCAA game with a current shutout streak of 259:46, and stood just 8:45 of eclipsing the school record of 268:30 set from September 26 to October 11, 1995. By combining with NJCU's defensive unit to keep Neumann off the board for the full 105:36 of action, Hoffman shattered that record, increasing the shutout margin to 365:22, while becoming the first player in school history to record three straight shutouts.
 
Albuja, who is still NJCU's career goal scoring leader, improved her career points total to 153 (70 goals, 13 assists) in 63 games. The 353 combined points between the A-C connection of Albuja/Caseres makes the tandem one of the highest scoring pairs in the history of college women's soccer. It was her fourth goal of the season.
 
“This team is completely on the same page right now and has one common goal, and that is to win,” said sixth-year head coach ROBERT BIELAN about his team's strong start. “That's leading to very focused training sessions. They get it.”
 
NJCU was playing consecutive overtime games for only the second time in school history and the first time since October 17 and 21, 1995; the club went 0-1-1 in those two games. The Knights also defeated SUNY New Paltz in overtime, 1-0, on September 4.
 
Hoffman only needed to make one save to preserve the shutout. For Neumann, junior keeper Jacqueline McAllister (Salem, NJ/Salem) started in net and made three saves in 61:57. Senior Brittany Russ (Geneva, NY) played the final 43:39 and stopped four shots.
 
The Knights had a great chance to snap the scoreless game in the 80^th minute when Caseres unleashed a shot from the top of the box that was deflected by Russ before the rebound struck the crossbar and was cleared away. At 97:43 of the first overtime, Caseres had another solid scoring chance on a break towards the Neumann goal before Russ came up with the save.
 
Then, with the second overtime winding down to the final four minutes, senior midfielder MARGIE ALFANO (Randolph, NJ/West Orange) stole the ball from a Neumann player and split two midfielders before putting a pass on Caseres' foot. With her back to the goal, Caseres turned towards the net and fed Albuja, who used her speed to beat a defender to the top of the 18 on the right side before unleashing a cannon-like shot into the right of the net to win it.
 
“I was just hoping it was going to go in,” said Albuja about her winning goal—her fourth shot of the game and second on goal. “I didn't have that many opportunities on goal tonight. I tried to get it high on her [goalie Brittany Russ] or off to the side.”
 
Caseres, discussing her historic 200^th point, added: “it is an amazing accomplishment and not a lot of players have been able to do that. The way I did it tonight to help us win this game just feels right, giving the ball to my other forward and finishing the game the way we did in the second overtime.”
 
Senior captains ERICA BUONACQUISTA (Aberdeen, NJ/Bayonne) and NICOLE SARICA (Linden, NJ/Linden) and freshmen defenders JANINE CASALE (Kenilworth, NJ/David Brearley) and DEVON WILLIAMS (Neptune City, NJ/Neptune) played a full 106 minutes in the back, with Casale at sweeper, Buonacquista at stopper, and Sarica and Williams handling the outside fullback positions to provide a shutdown system in front of Hoffman.
 
“The freshman defenders, Janine and Devon really played very well with Nicole and Erica,” noted Bielan. “They have good chemistry, communicate and play the ball well amongst themselves. And Hoffman is one of the best additions we have made to this team in a very long time. The freshmen who are here all worked hard in the offseason to get to the preseason, worked hard in the preseason and continue to work hard now. They are focused.”
 
The Gothic Knights will next host the 2011 NJCU Liberty Cup on Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10. On Friday, Medgar Evers College and SUNY Purchase meet in the opening game at 2:30 p.m., followed by NJCU and St. Joseph's College (LI) at 5 p.m. On Saturday, St. Joseph's and Medgar Evers square off at 12 p.m., with NJCU/Purchase at 3:30 p.m.
 

 

GAME NOTES:

The Gothic Knights are 8-9 all-time against current members of the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC). The Knights improved to 4-9-7 all-time in program history in overtime.