MAHWAH, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior center back Lexi Mescavage (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy) and freshman midfielder Catarina Borralho (Newark, NJ/Science Park) each scored their first goals of the season in a span of just 17 seconds in the 47th minute to give the New Jersey City University women's soccer team a 3-0 lead over Ramapo College and the Gothic Knights held on for a 3-2 New Jersey Athletic Conference road victory on October 14.
 
NJCU (5-9, 2-5 NJAC) sophomore center midfielder Mallensy Vargas (North Bergen, NJ/Memorial) scored her 13th goal of the season on a penalty kick in the early 32nd minute to stake the Knights to a 1-0 halftime lead. She collected at least one point for the sixth consecutive game and the 10th time in 12 outings this season while scoring a goal for fifth time in the last six games and the ninth different game this year.
 
The win is a critical one for NJCU which remains alive in the NJAC Tournament race entering the final two weeks of the season. With two games remaining, all 10 teams in the league are still alive for one of six berths in the NJAC Tournament and NJCU is in a complicated five-way tie in the league standings with six points with Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, Ramapo and Stockton—all just one point behind fifth-place William Paterson. NJCU has wins over Ramapo and Rutgers-Camden and will host Stockton next weekend.
 
Ramapo (4-9, 2-5 NJAC) outshot NJCU, 15-9, but junior goalkeeper Dominique Jackson (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) made six saves. Junior midfielder Katherin Merino (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) produced a point for the fourth consecutive game when she assisted on what proved to be the game-winning goal.
 
Vargas' matched her scoring total from her freshman season when she was dragged down in the box and finished a penalty kick into the right side at the 30:59 mark.
 
Mescavage, who scored just once last year, sent a long cross from the outside off a throw in, bouncing it over the keeper's head and into the net at the 46:32 mark. Then, just 17 seconds later, Merino sent a thru ball up the middle onto the left side to Borralho, who beat the last defender and hit a shot past the diving keeper into the lower right side for her first collegiate goal into the net at 46:49; that tally proved to be the game-winner.
 
The Roadrunners got a goal and an assist from senior midfielder Nani Vizcaino (Lodi, N.J.) who assisted on Ramapo's first goal—scored by freshman midfielder Amanda Gouldsbury (New Milford, N.J.) early in the 58th minute—before drawing RCNJ within a goal when she put away her third of the season late in the 71st minute. Junior back Jessica Raccioppi (Maywood, N.J.) assisted on the second goal.
 
Ramapo had just three shots the rest of the game in its attempt to find the equalizer, although two were on net with Jackson making saves to preserve the win. Sophomore keeper Elizabeth Harvell (Hamilton, N.J.) made five saves in defeat.
 
QUOTABLE KNIGHTS:
Head Coach Anthony Tuesta on the win: "I thought we deserved to win today. They have been working so hard and it showed on the field. I'm happy about the players who stepped up and those who continue improving like [Katherin] Merino and [Catarina] Borralho."

OF NOTE:

• Series: 25th meeting; Ramapo leads all-time, 19-5-1.

 
UP NEXT:

• NJCU has two games remaining and can clinch an NJAC Tournament berth for the first time since 2011 if it can win both—a home game on Saturday, October 21 against Stockton University (2 p.m.) and a road game at Montclair State on October 25. NJCU hosts the Ospreys in its final home game of the season on October 21, seeking its first-ever win over Stockton (1-4 away this season). It will be the 25th meeting between the programs; Stockton has won all 24 previous games.

 
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NOTE: Story edited October 16, 2017 1 p.m. to reflect correct goal scoring times and NCAA record book reference after referring to video of road match.