Game 1 | Home Game 1	vs Mount St. Mary's (0-0-0)
Date | Time	Thursday, August 17 | 6:00 pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium
All-Time Series | Last Meeting	MSM leads 1-0-2 | 9/12/2010 @ MSM (1-1, 2OT)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Live Video	AmericaEast.TV

NEWARK, N.J. — NJIT Women's Soccer will once again kick off Highlander Athletics' school year with its first game of the season, the 2023 home opener against Mount St. Mary's on Thursday evening at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium. The Highlanders are coming off a 5-6-8 (2-4-2 AE) campaign in 2022 that saw them earn the No. 6 seed in their second-straight America East Tournament.

NEWS AND NOTES TO KNOW
8: 2023 will be the eighth season at the helm of the Highlanders program for head coach Ally Nick since taking over in 2016. Nick has compiled an overall record (W-L-D) of 47-54-17 (19-28-6 conference - ASUN & America East) over seven seasons and 14-24-9 (7-12-4 AE) in three campaigns as a member of the America East conference (since 2020).

3: NJIT will look to reach its third consecutive America East tournament this year. The last time the Highlanders played in at least three straight league tournaments, NJIT competed in four consecutive Great West Conference tourneys from 2009-12. Under Coach Nick, NJIT has made back-to-back playoff appearances twice across two different leagues: 2018-19 in the ASUN and 2021-22 in the America East. The Highlanders were picked to finish sixth in this year's AE Preseason Poll, which would be the minimum to clinch the third berth at season's end.

29: NJIT will field an active roster of 29 during the 2023 campaign: 21 returners (including 2022 AE All-Championship selection Ciara Adams, 2022 AE All-Rookie honoree Riley Jones, 2021 AE All-Rookie selection Caroline Caputo, and veteran captains Emma Bitar and Madison Taibl), seven freshmen and one grad transfer.

11: This year's roster is even more diverse than last year's in terms of hometowns. The active roster hails from 11 different locales - New Jersey (13 players), Virginia (4), Pennsylvania (3), New York (2), California (1), Arizona (1), North Carolina (1), Canada (1), New Zealand (1), Portugal (1), and Germany (1) - compared to seven in 2022.

81.8: The percentage of offense (18 of 22 goals) returning to the Highlander lineup from last year, including team leading scorers Bailey Chant (3 G, 1 A) and Briana Andreoli (3 G). Three-fourths of NJIT's ability to set up those scoring chances (8 of 12 assists) is back as well, paced by team leader Aleesha Deshmukh (3 A).

6: NJIT's school record for ties in a season from last year. The previous record was three, done in 2005, 2012, 2016 and 2019.

1: One new coach joined the Highlander staff since the end of last season (Jordan Nash came aboard in March after most recently working at Monmouth) and the first former Highlander to play under Coach Nick signed a professional contract (Angela Harris committed to play for Greek side Panathinaikos earlier this month).

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT | NOTES
NJIT and Mount St. Mary's will be meeting for just the fourth time in their history and the first since September 12, 2010, the last of three straight annual meetings from 2008-10. Mount St. Mary's holds a 1-0-2 advantage in the series but after winning the first matchup in 2008, NJIT has gotten results by way of a pair of 1-1 draws in 2009 and 2010.

The Mount will also be making its 2023 debut in the match with NJIT and is coming off a 3-6-7 (2-5-3 MAAC) campaign in 2022. Mount St. Mary's conference record put them just two points shy of the final MAAC playoff spot last year; its seven ties set a school mark; and the team's six losses were the fewest in a full season in school history.

NEXT UP
NJIT will wrap up the weekend with a second home game on Sunday, August 20 against Saint Peter's. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.