NEWARK, N.J. — NJIT Women's Soccer (2-3-4) begins its third campaign in the America East Conference on Sunday afternoon with a road matchup against the Maine Black Bears in Orono.

LAST TIME OUT 
NJIT played its last game before starting AE play on Wednesday evening, suffering a 2-0 defeat against the Monmouth Hawks at home in Newark. In defeat, redshirt senior Molly Saylor reached the 300 career save mark with a nine-save effort against the Hawks. 

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.

10, 5, 5, 3: The Highlanders have scored ten goals so far this year - five have come from headers, five have been assisted, and three have been headers assisted by Aleesha Deshmukh, including Sydney Watson's goal against Wagner on August 31.

18: Saylor registered her 18th career shutout against Saint Peter's, extending her NJIT school record and placing her on the edge of the NCAA Top 30 for career shutouts (was tied for 27th in Division I prior to the Wagner game).

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.

300: The number of saves Saylor has made in her career, making her one of only three Highlanders - Sadie Mele (437) and Samantha Bersett (363) - that have eclipsed the 300 save plateau in NJIT history. The 300 saves places her sixth in the NCAA in career saves among active players as of Saturday, September 17.

9: The number of America East weekly awards NJIT Women's Soccer has won all-time after Saylor was named Defensive Player of the Week on August 29. She joined sophomore Ciara Adams (August 29, Offensive 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).

3: NJIT has scored multiple goals in three games this season after only doing so one time in 19 contests in 2021.

9: The Highlanders have had nine different goal scorers (Adams, Vito, Chamberlain, Ramos, Caminos, Watson, Caputo, O'Connor, Nogueira) in only eight games, which is close to 2021's total of ten different goal scorers in 19 contests.

4: The fourth tie of the year against Lafayette sets 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 - 2 (11th)
Assists: Aleesha Deshmukh - 3
Points: Adams - 4
Shots: Lauren Chamberlain - 11
Saves: Molly Saylor - 51 (1st)
Saves/Game: Molly Saylor - 5.67 (1st)
Shutouts: Molly Saylor - 4 (T-1st)
Shutouts/Game: Molly Saylor - .444 (T-1st)
GAA: Saylor - 1.11 (3rd)

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
NJIT will look to keep its unbeaten streak against Maine alive, as the Highlanders hold a 1-0-1 edge over Maine in their two previous meetings since NJIT joined the America East. NJIT pulled off a 1-0 victory over Maine last year in Newark to give the program its first-ever America East league win.

Maine (4-1-1) enters America East play after winning at home against Holy Cross, 4-0 (its third 4-0 win of the year). The Black Bears are led by Saylor Clark (5 G, 1 A) and Kira Kutzinski (529:24 mins, 0.85 GAA, 27 saves).

NEXT UP
NJIT will have a week to prepare for its next game, a home matchup against New Hampshire (Sunday, September 25 at 1 p.m) in a rematch of the teams' epic 2021 America East Tournament quarterfinal.