CAMDEN, N.J. — For the first time this season, the New Jersey City University women's soccer team has collected a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) victory tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 4. The Gothic Knights, originally scheduled to host Rutgers-Camden at home this past weekend, were forced to go on the road against the Scarlet Raptors in the reschedule. However, NJCU fought through the adversity and came out on top for the 2-1 win, its first over Camden since 2017.
The Scarlet Raptors (5-5-1, 1-2-0 NJAC) maintained the majority of possession and offensive chances throughout the match, outshooting the Gothic Knights (5-5-1, 1-2-0 NJAC) 12-6 overall and 7-5 in on-target attempts. However, sophomore keeper
Sophia Mannino (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Township) made six saves to earn her second-career NJAC victory in net for the Green and Gold. The defensive players in front of Mannino were also strong, holding the line all night, resulting in eight offsides call against Rutgers-Camden.
After a scoreless first half which saw Rutgers-Camden take the slight, 3-2, advantage in shots on goal, Mannino was forced to make a pair of saves in the early going of the second before a corner kick for NJCU in the 54th broke the nil-nil tie. Taking the attempt from the far side was sophomore midfielder
Nyrohah Alvarenga (North Bergen, N.J./High Tech) and her cross glanced right of the head of senior forward
Kim Brites (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) and into the lower-right third of the net to make it 1-0.
Mannino made another save, which was immediately followed in the 67th by a beautiful bit of passing by the Gothic Knights, resulting in another goal — ultimately the game-winner. A pass sent back to a Rutgers-Camden defender saw Brites make an outstanding defensive play, force a turnover and bring the ball up herself across midfield. She then sent a beautiful through ball to split the Scarlet Raptor defense and lead freshman forward
Bella Moore (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee), who beat an aggressive keeper that came out to play the ball for her first-career NJAC goal, and second of her season overall.
Rutgers-Camden did manage to cut the defecit to 2-1 in the 73rd, but that was the final Scarlet Raptor shot on goal for the night and NJCU emerged victorious.
Up Next:
The Green and Gold continue NJAC road play on Saturday evening, Oct. 7, with a 7:00 p.m. clash in Mahwah, N.J., against Ramapo College. The Gothic Knights will be in search of their first multi-win conference season since 2017, when they topped Camden (2-1 on Oct. 7, 2017) and Ramapo (3-2 on Oct. 14) that year.
