Box score
NEWARK, NJ—Jennifer Lohner scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute, lifting visiting Utah Valley to a 2-1 women's United Soccer Conference win over NJIT Wednesday afternoon on Lubetkin Field.
Lohner's fourth goal of the season capped a heavy offensive push by the Wolverines after NJIT had tied the score at 1-1 on the team-leading third goal of the season for Erika Taugher at 54:26.
Utah Valley had taken a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal by Katey Turner at 31:44.
NJIT, which opened conference play last weekend with a 2-0 win at South Carolina State on Sunday, is 1-1 in the USC. Utah Valley, last season's USC postseason tournament champion and second-place finisher in the regular season, is 1-0 in league play and 6-4-1 overall. The Highlanders are 2-12.
Sadie Mele, the NJIT goalkeeper, finished with eight saves and Utah Valley's Mallory Schott stopped two shots.
Utah Valley, which had a strong territorial advantage throughout most of the match, especially after Taugher had tied the score, outshot NJIT, 21-7 overall and 10-3 in shots on goal. The corner kicks favored the Wolverines, 6-2.
The visitors got the only score of the first half in the 32nd minute, when Turner, a 5-foot tall sophomore with a high work rate, controlled the ball outside the penalty area and pushed forward. Picking up speed, she beat a defender with a move into the box, gaining an unobstructed shot from 15 yards, which she fired in beyond the reach of a leaping Mele.
Turner's goal came after three good scoring opportunities—two for Utah Valley and one for NJIT's Jennifer Kalczewski--in the first 32 minutes. One of UV's chances was a hard free kick from 20 yards by Kelly Vide that Mele repelled with a fine save. Kalczewski's header in the 19th minute missed just over the top.
The 1-0 lead held up for Utah Valley until Taugher equalized on her third goal of the season and school-record 16th of her career. It was her second goal in the last two games.
Taugher showed concentration and composure on her goal in the 55th minute. Shooting from a fairly difficult angle, she hit the crossbar and the ball caromed toward Schott, who attempted to punch the ball clear. Taugher, who had followed her initial try, gathered the rebound and calmly teed up an accurate shot past Schott from 12 yards away straight on.
The Wolverines, who had not allowed a goal against NJIT in three games going back to 2006, responded to the tie score by turning up the pressure and they got three great chances between the 57th and 67th minutes.
Ashley Skeen shot just wide in the 57th minute. Jenni Clough, the 2007 USC Player of the Year, made a steal near the Highlander goal, but missed wide right in the 59th minute. And Shantae Adams-Yeats hit the crossbar in the 67th minute.
The visitors finally broke the tie at 83:18. Clough sent a cross through the goal area from the right wing, which Adams-Yeats attempted to head in for a goal. But her attempt was not clean and it went short and wide left. However, Lohner was there to tuck the ball inside the post for what proved to be the game-winner.
NJIT's best remaining chance came with just over two minutes left, when freshman Cielianna Pasiciel-Chalmers took a free kick from nearly 40 yards out and fired a strong shot that sailed about a foot over the roof the goal.
The Highlanders, who had played their previous six games away from home, returned to Lubetkin Field a much-improved team from when they left in mid-September.
Some key players are returning from injury and the young squad (12 of the 15 who appeared for NJIT are in their first or second seasons with the team) appeared to mesh better on the field than it had earlier.
Next up for the Highlanders is a match against defending conference regular season champion Longwood on Saturday. That game, which is part of the annual NJIT Day celebration, will begin at 11 am on Lubetkin Field.
