NEWARK, N.J. — NJIT Women's Soccer (3-6-5, 0-3-1 AE) begins the final stretch of the season when it resumes America East play by hosting the UMBC Retrievers (4-5-4, 0-2-2 AE) Thursday evening in Newark.
LAST TIME OUT
The Highlanders returned to the win column after a 4-0 shutout of Delaware State on October 7. Four different Highlanders -
Kelsey Ramos,
Briana Andreoli,
Bailey Chant, and
Caroline Caputo - scored in the victory and three Highlanders - Chant,
Riley Jones, and
Angela Harris - recorded assists.
NEWS AND NOTES TO KNOW
5: After earning the No. 3 seed and hosting the first-ever America East Tournament home game in NJIT history in 2021, the Highlanders were voted to finish tied for this year's Preseason Poll by the league's head coaches.
NJIT's draw against Maine on September 18 was also NJIT's fifth of the season, extending its new school record for ties in a season.
2: The number of goals for the current NJIT team leaders - Freshman
Kelsey Ramos, senior
Bailey Chant, sophomore
Caroline Caputo and sophomore
Ciara Adams.
17: How many seconds it took for freshman
Briana Andreoli to score her first career goal against Delaware State. Andreoli checked in at the 35:03 mark and headed home her goal at 35:20.
8: With her goal against UNH,
Bailey Chant overtook teammate
Lauren Chamberlain for the program lead in career goals among active players.
15, 6, 8, 3: The Highlanders have scored 11 goals so far this year - six have come from headers, eight have been assisted (including one double assist), and three have been headers assisted by
Aleesha Deshmukh (tied for fourth in AE).
19: Saylor registered her 19th career solo shutout against Maine, extending her NJIT school record.
11: NJIT's last eleven wins as a program have all been shutouts. The last time NJIT won a game that was not a clean sheet was its 3-1 season opening win over Drexel to open the 2020 (Spring 2021) campaign.
84: The career high in minutes played by freshman
Riley Jones against Delaware State, eclipsing her previous high of 59 from the UMass Lowell game.
523:03: Time in minutes of NJIT's shutout streak in America East regular season action, starting from NJIT's match at UMBC last season (October 14) and ending with UNH's first goal on September 25.
21: The goal differential between NJIT (21) and Saint Peter's (0) in their last five contests - all NJIT shutout victories - under head coach
Ally Nick.
326: The number of saves Saylor has made in her career, making her one of only three Highlanders - 2022 NJIT Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Sadie Mele (437) and Samantha Bersett (363) - that have eclipsed the 300 save plateau in NJIT history. Her total places her sixth in the NCAA in career saves among active players as of Friday, and her season tally of 77 is currently tied for 6th nationally.
10: The number of America East weekly awards NJIT Women's Soccer has won all-time after
Briana Andreoli was named Rookie of the Week on October 10. She joined sophomore
Ciara Adams (August 22, Offensive POTW) and redshirt senior
Molly Saylor (August 29, Defensive POTW) as award winners for 2022.
The draw with Drexel kept the program's overall unbeaten streak alive at nine games, dating back to last season's five-match run (3-0-2 to close the year). The nine-game stretch without a loss was the longest in program history.
605:32: The final length of NJIT's school record shutout streak that started with the final five games of 2021 and ended with St. John's first goal on August 21.
5: After Saylor's 14 saves against Drexel, she sits in the NJIT top-five for single game saves, behind Samantha Bersett (18 against Lipscomb on Oct. 24, 2015; 15 against Utah Valley on Oct. 5, 2012), Bruna Lotufo (15 vs IPFW on Aug. 31, 2006) and Ketsia Mesidor (15 vs Bridgeport on Sept. 17, 1997).
4: NJIT has scored multiple goals in four games this season (3-0-1 in those games) after only doing so one time in 19 contests in 2021.
11: The Highlanders have had 11 different goal scorers (Adams, Vito, Chamberlain, Ramos, Caminos, Watson, Caputo, O'Connor, Nogueira, Chant, Andreoli) in 14 games, surpassing 2021's total of 10, set over 19 contests.
4: The fourth tie of the year against Lafayette set a new program record for most in a season, passing the three NJIT posted in 2005, 2012, 2016 and 2019.
44: The difference between the number of career games it took for Caminos (46) and Ramos (2) to net their first career goals against St. John's.
4: In the season opener, NJIT held LIU's offensive attack in check, only allowing the Sharks to register four total shots. The last time the Highlander defense conceded four shots or fewer in a victory was against Wagner on Sept. 2, 2021 (1-0 win, four shots allowed).
7: Head coach
Ally Nick is in her seventh season as head coach of the Highlanders. Nick compiled a 42-46-11 (17-24-4 conference) record in six seasons prior to 2022, including three conference tournament appearances in six years (2018-19 ASUN, 2021 AE)
30: NJIT is running with a 30-woman roster consisting of: 21 returners from last season's America East quarterfinal team, eight freshmen and transfer
Lily Bray.
3: Three returners from 2021 were honored by the America East last season: Redshirt senior
Molly Saylor (Second Team All-AE, AE All-Academic), Fifth Year
Siani Magruder (Second Team All-AE, AE All-Championship Team), and sophomore
Caroline Caputo (AE All-Rookie Team)
This will also be NJIT's third season in the America East after the school joined the league in July 2020. However, it will be the Highlanders' first AE campaign after a proper offseason (2020 was played in Spring 2021 due to COVID and 2021 was played the following fall).
7: This year's roster hails from seven different places (five states, two countries): New Jersey (16 players), Pennsylvania (5), Virginia (4), New York (2), North Carolina, New Zealand, and Portugal.
2: A pair of successful local coaches joined Coach Nick's staff for the 2022 campaign.
Ariana Ruela (former head coach at Rutgers-Newark) and
Graeham Gotrell (former Montclair State women's and men's soccer assistant coach) were hired this summer after the departures of longtime assistants Mary Hearin (Delaware) and Chris Duggan (Princeton)
60: Sixty percent of NJIT's offense from 2021 is back on the pitch this season.
Bailey Chant is the Highlanders' leading returning scorer (3 G, 2 A) while six other players registered a goal last season (
Angela Harris,
Ciara Adams,
Aleesha Deshmukh,
Briana Ramirez,
Emma Bitar,
Taylor Pape).
2022 STATS LEADERS (AE RANK)
Goals:
Ciara Adams/
Bailey Chant/
Kelsey Ramos/
Caroline Caputo - 2 (T-17th)
Assists:
Aleesha Deshmukh - 3 (T-4th)
Points: Chant - 5
Shots: Ramos - 16
Saves:
Molly Saylor - 77 (1st)
Saves/Game:
Molly Saylor - 5.50 (1st)
Shutouts:
Molly Saylor - 5 (T-2nd)
Shutouts/Game:
Molly Saylor - .357 (3rd)
GAA: Saylor - 1.111 (3rd)
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
NJIT and UMBC will meet for the fifth time overall on Thursday, with the teams deadlocked with a 1-1-2 record in their four previous meetings. In last year's contest, NJIT and UMBC played to a 0-0 double overtime draw in Baltimore on October 14.
The Retrievers lost their last match prior to Sunday, a 2-1 home defeat against UAlbany on October 9.
UMBC is paced by Meghan McKye (5 G, 1 A) and Morgan McGruder (1350:00 mins, 68 saves, 0.93 GAA, six shutouts).
NEXT UP
NJIT will play its penultimate road game of the year on Sunday, August 16 against UAlbany. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
