ALBANY, NY—NJIT scored first and the game was tied 1-1 at the half, but UAlbany poured in three second-half goals to defeat the visiting Highlanders 4-1 Thursday night in women's soccer on Bob Ford Field.
 
With Thursday's win, Albany, which plays in the America East Conference, goes to 3-6-2 and all three wins have come by wide margins in home contests—5-1 over Siena, 5-0 versus Saint Peter's, and now, 4-1 against NJIT.
 
NJIT falls to 2-9, with four consecutive losses, all in a stretch of road games that ended in Albany. The Highlanders will play three of their next four contests at home, where they are 2-3.
 
Senior Kylie Jones got the Highlanders on the board first with an unassisted goal in the 25th minute. It  was the first tally of the year and fifth career goal for the midfielder from England.
 
Freshman Vivian Vega, who would finish with a goal and two assists on the night, brought the Great Danes even in the 39th minute with an assist from Kelly Kempf.
 
Vega, a 5-foot-10 forward from California who played for Mexico's U17 Women's National Team, now has six goals and two assists in her first college season.
 
The 1-1 halftime tie held just more than 10 minutes into the second half, when Vega assisted a rebound goal by Shelby Belak that put UAlbany ahead to stay at 55:21. It was Belak's second goal of the year.
 
Krista Kirkpatrick struck just over two minutes later, unassisted goal, in the 58th minute for her first goal of the year and she added a second tally in the 68th minute, with an assist by Vega.
 
UAlbany had a 33-8 advantage in total shots, including 16-3 in shots on goal. Meanwhile, the corner kicks favored the Great Danes, 9-3.
 
Each team used two goalkeepers. For the winners, Alana Brennan played the first 71:01 and did not make a save while conceding the only Highlander tally and Alana Olivieri finished up, making two saves without allowing a goal in final 18:59.
 
As has been the substitution pattern in recent NJIT games, junior Samantha Bersett started for the Highlanders and played the first half to be replaced in goal at halftime by Karen David. Bersett made five saves and allowed one goal in her 45 minutes and David allowed three scores and stopped seven shots in playing the second half.
 
UAlbany's four-goal output Thursday night doubled the most goals NJIT had previously allowed in a game this season. Through their first 10 games, the Highlanders had allowed as many as two goals six times, but three of those games, including each of the last two, were tied at the end of regulation, 1-1, and were settled with 2-1 losses in overtime.
 
Next on the NJIT schedule is a 1 pm home game Sunday vs. Fairleigh Dickinson on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.