Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT women's soccer team broke a scoreless tie in the 64th minute and added two more goals in the last 17 minutes for a program Division I record-setting 8th win, 3-0, over visiting Delaware State in the final game of the year for both teams Wednesday night on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
 
NJIT finishes 2013 at 8-10-1 while notching 6 shutouts, also a new program high in the Division I era, which began in 2006. The previous Division I high for wins was 7 when the Highlanders were 7-9-2 in 2009.
 
This year's team also matched the overall program record for wins. Started as a Division III program in 1996, NJIT played in Division II from 1997 to 2005, posting an 8-6-3 mark the final season in Division II.
 
Delaware State, which came in and gave an especially game effort, ends its season at 1-16.
 
The Hornets, who matched NJIT in shots, outshot the home team in the first half, 7-5, and five of the DSU shots were on frame, forcing saves from Highlander goalkeeper Samantha Bersett, who was in goal for every minute of the 2013 schedule.
 
With NJIT taking more of the play in the second half, Bersett was not as busy, making two more stops for her 6th clean sheet of the year and 10th of her two-year career to date. Delaware State junior Katelyn Koslosky saved a pair of shots in the match.
 
NJIT got goals from three different players in the closing win and they all finished tied for the team for the season, with 3 apiece.
 
Sophomore Abi Fakolujo got the only goal NJIT would need, converting an assist from freshman Carly Berdan at 63:58. Sadly, Fakolujo sustained an apparent leg injury in the final minute and was left on the turf when the final whistle sounded and could not walk under her own power when she went to the training room for treatment a few minutes later.
 
Berdan, a freshman who booted two game-winning goals on the year, scored NJIT's second goal of the night after assisting on the first. She converted in the 74th minute off a corner kick out of the left corner by sophomore Madeline Griep, who started all 19 games and finished with a goal and two assists.
 
Redshirt junior Rebecca Tustin capped the scoring with an unassisted goal 64 minutes from the end. Tustin, who missed the entire 2011 season due to knee surgery returned to the form that had made her one of the program's most promising players when she arrived on campus in 2010. Tustin, an architecture major who will play as a 5th-year senior in 2014, had a team leading 9 points (3 goals, 3 assists) this year.
 
NJIT nearly got on the board in the 57th minute on a try by Jenny Cislo, but Delaware State's Koslosky kept it at 0-0 with a one-handed save.
 
The opening goal for Fakolujo was a 15-yarder to the lower 90 off of Berdan's cross from close to the end line. Berdan added the first insurance tally by gaining position to Koslosky's right and putting in the corner. And Tustin did most of it herself on the third goal, stealing the ball and working around a defender and then Koslosky, who came off her line looking to smother the shot to no avail at 88:56.
 
Afterwards, first-year head coach Mandi Risden, who served the program as an assistant coach from 2008 to 2012 before taking over the top job in April, was pleased by the progress that saw the school Division I records fall, propelled by a 4-2-1 record combined between October and November.
 
"They achieved it," said the coach, emphasizing the "they" and pointing to the players. "We don't have a conference tournament, so the staff and players knew this was going to be the end of our season and we wanted to go out and achieve our season goal of winning the most Division I games.
 
"We started slowly, but we still finished strong and every single girl on the team was part of our reaching one of our biggest goals. Sam (Bersett) was great tonight and she really had a good year, working hard and getting better as the season went along. We all hit a bump in the road (three road losses by a combined 11-0 in late September) but she stayed with it and was a big part of us turning it around defensively (6 goals allowed over the last 8 games after the aforementioned 11-goal spell).
 
NJIT honored its four seniors last weekend, but the quartet lowered the curtain on their playing careers for good on Wednesday. They are: Catherine Andrus, Camille Billing, Amanda Redden and Erin Schmitt.