JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University women's soccer team picked up its first point in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) standings on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 29, following a hard-fought double-overtime 1-1 stalemate with Rutgers-Newark at home on Robert L. McNulty Memorial Field at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. Both goals came on first-half penalties, leading to the eventual 110-minute match, while sophomore Angie Paz' (Vernon, N.J./Vernon Township) stellar play in net kept NJCU in it all day long.

The Gothic Knights (2-4-3, 0-2-1 NJAC) fell behind early to the Scarlet Raiders (6-2-1, 0-2-1 NJAC) as the road squad outshot NJCU 6-0 in shots on goal in the first 35 minutes and took a 1-0 lead in the 27th following a foul in the box and a successful penalty attempt. However, that was the only blemish on the afternoon for Paz, who stopped all 11 other shots by Rutgers-Newark.

From the 36th minute on in the first half, the Gothic Knights outshot the road squad 5-0 in on-target attempts to take back momentum. The final shot of the half came in 45th minute as this time the Scarlet Raiders were called for a penalty in the box, allowing sophomore forward and reigning NJAC Player of the Week Kim Brites (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) to convert successfully and tie it up 1-1.



Paz made several outstanding stops throughout to maintain the deadlock of a match for her Gothic Knights. One of the first came in the seventh minute following a long pass from the Scarlet Raiders which freed up a two-on-one. Paz played out of the net aggressively and got a hand on it to keep it scoreless at the time. Then, trailing 1-0 in the 35th minute, the sophomore made a nice diving stop on a sharp-angle shot to keep it a one-goal game.

Tied 1-1 and just over 14 minutes into the second half, Paz came up big once again. A free kick from the far side just outside the box connected with a header attempt and the NJCU keeper managed to get high enough to get both hands on the ball and smack it out of play. Later on with just under 12 minutes remaining in regulation, Paz had to make arguably her toughest stops of the game with back-to-back saves off another free-kick attempt, as the long ball landed right in front and was sent on net twice — however the Gothic Knights' netminder stood tall once again.

From that point on, neither squad managed a solid scoring chance for the remainder of regulation, as well as the two overtime periods and both teams walked away with one point apiece in the NJAC standings.

What's Next:
NJCU returns to action this Saturday afternoon, Oct. 2, at 1:00 p.m. back at McNulty Field as Rowan University comes to Jersey City for a NJAC clash. Follow all the action live on GothicVision.