Box Score
WASHINGTON, DC—Howard seniors Natalie Williston and Jessamyn Perkins marked their final regular season home games by starring in their team's 1-0 double overtime women's United Soccer Conference win over visiting NJIT Sunday afternoon.
Williston scored the game's only goal, assisted by sophomore Rachael Lee, in the 105th minute. The tally was the third of the season for Williston, tying her for the Howard team goals lead with Lee, who collected her team-best third assist on the game-winner against NJIT.
Lee sent a centering pass to Williston, who then slipped the shot past the sliding NJIT goalkeeper Sadie Mele.
Perkins made eight saves for her third shutout of the season in the Howard goal. Mele stopped four shots for the Highlanders.
The total shots favored Howard, 16-12, but the shots on goal were 8-5 for NJIT. The Highlanders also had a slim 7-6 advantage in corner kicks.
Howard had the only shot in the first 10-minute overtime period and each team got a shot in the second overtime. Perkins stopped NJIT with 6:25 left and Williston got the game-winner 1:09 later.
Cielianna Pasiciel-Chalmers was the NJIT shots leader with three and freshman classmate Piper Lunan led with two shots on goal.
The Bison finished the regular season with wins in three of their last four games, all of which were played within the United Soccer Conference. Howard ended at 3-2 in the USC. NJIT finished USC play with a 1-3-1 conference record and a 2-15-1 overall record.
The Highlanders began conference play in promising fashion, defeating South Carolina State on the road before playing a pair of hard-fought games at home against the conference's two top teams from a year ago.
On October 8, NJIT lost a close 2-1 game to defending USC tournament champion Utah Valley and then played a scoreless double overtime tie against defending regular season champion Longwood.
The 0-0 tie against a good Longwood team was encouraging, but it foreshadowed a scoring brownout that saw the Highlanders go without a goal in their last three conference matches.
The Highlanders next lost to Delaware State, 1-0, despite a 25-4 advantage in shots and then they fell at Howard by the same score in double overtime on Sunday.
The weekend's results around the conference allowed NJIT to slip into the United Soccer Conference postseason tournament as the fourth seed. The tournament will be hosted by Longwood in Farmville, VA with semifinals and championship on November 1 and 3, respectively.
The Highlanders (1-3-1) will take on defending tournament champion Utah Valley which went through the conference regular season unbeaten at 5-0. Host and 2007 USC regular season champ Longwood, which finished 3-1-1, with a loss to Utah Valley and a tie vs. NJIT, will take on 3-2 Howard in the other semifinal.
