Box Score
 
NEWARK, NJ—Sophomore midfielder Kylie Jones scored the lone goal, just 1:06 into the match, giving the NJIT women's soccer team a 1-0 victory over Delaware State Thursday night at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
 
The victory enabled the Highlanders to improve to 3-10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Great West Conference. More importantly, the win snapped a nine-game winless streak for the Highlanders, a stretch dating back to Sept. 2 (a 2-1 win over Monmouth). The Highlanders went 0-6-3 during that span.
 
“I'll take it,” NJIT head women's soccer coach Sergio Gonzalez said. “It was important for us to get a win. Our record doesn't indicate the good things we've been doing. If you see the way we've been training lately, you would never know we had that record. This is one of the most resilient groups I've ever coached. They always work so hard to get better. This was a result based on hard work.”
 
The Highlanders wasted little time taking control of the match. In just the second minute, senior midfielder Meryl Hershfield took the ball down the left flank and sent a ball across to the goal mouth. Jones was alertly in the right position at the right time and her right-footed blast went to the high left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.
 
It was the first goal of the season for Jones, who got the start Thursday night as a reward for her fine play of late.
 
Jones had a chance to increase the lead in the ninth minute, but her direct free kick sailed over the crossbar.
 
Delaware State got its first scoring chance in the 12^th minute, when Kaitlyn Schlech was open in front, but her shot sailed over the bar.
 
In the 27^th minute, the Hornets had another opportunity, but Jeanette Salgado's one-hopper was caught by NJIT freshman goalkeeper Samantha Bersett for her first save of the match.
 
In the 31^st minute, Delaware State's Lauren Price managed to get her head on a redirected shot, but the header trickled just wide right of the goal. On the same play, Hornets defender Danielle Valente fired a shot from long range, but it sailed wide left.
 
In the 33^rd minute, the Highlanders had consecutive scoring chances. Junior defender Erin Schmitt had a good chance from 20 yards out, but her blast traveled over the crossbar. Freshman midfielder Alex Adam then had a shot from 25 yards out, but her attempt sailed high and wide of the goal.
 
The Highlanders held a 1-0 lead at the half.
 
“We played so well for the first 15 minutes, then we lost our discipline over the last 30 minutes of the first half,” Gonzalez said. “We knew we had to come back much better in the second half.”
 
In the second half, Highlander senior forward Gechi Ukaegbu had two excellent chances to score, but came up empty. In the 53^rd minute, Ukaegbu moved in with a left-footed shot from the right side that trickled through the goal crease. A minute later, Ukaegbu took another left-footed shot that Delaware State goalkeeper Katelyn Koslosky got her right hand on to deflect it away.
 
The Highlanders had another chance in the 56^th minute, when Adam unleashed a right-footed shot that Koslosky corralled.
 
Ukaegbu kept up the pressure, getting another great chance in the 65^th minute. She moved in with a right-footed shot that Koslosky got her right hand on. As the ball headed toward the goal, it glanced off the left goalpost and out of danger.
 
“She just had to keep going and going,” Gonzalez said. “Eventually, she's going to get one. It's one thing if you're not getting chances, but we had a lot of good chances. You just hope you eventually get one. If you're not creating chances, that's one thing. But when you're creating, there's hope for more.”
 
The Highlanders had their best chance to score since the opening stages of the game in the 73^rd minute, when Hershfield hit the left goalpost with a right-footed shot from eight yards out.
 
The Highlanders had another chance to score in the 84^th minute, when junior forward Amanda Redden's left-footed shot from 20 yards out was caught on a bounce by Koslosky.
 
“You would like to come up with more than one,” Gonzalez said. “We were a little unlucky with our chances tonight. We would have liked to have more. This was important for us to get. We defended well and defended as a unit.”
 
The Highlanders had more shots than the Hornets by an 11-6 margin and had 12 corner kicks opposed to just two for Delaware State.
 
Bersett made two saves to secure her third career shutout in goal for the Highlanders, who return to action Saturday night when they play host to Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. It will be senior night, with the senior members of the Highlanders' roster being honored before the game.

Write-up courtesy James Hague