STOCKTON WINS 5-2 IN NJAC TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND

Jessica Balnis

Boxscore

Fourth-seeded Richard Stockton (12-5-4) met fifth-seeded New Jersey City (13-7) in the NJAC tournament first round for the second straight year and the Ospreys prevailed for the second year in a row, this time by a 5-2 score.

Jessica Balnis (Dorothy/Buena) led Stockton with two goals to bring her team-leading total to nine on the season. With the win, the Ospreys advanced to face top-seeded Rowan in the NJAC semifinals on Tuesday at 7 pm.

New Jersey City nearly took an early on a shot by Jennifer Albuja 19 minutes in, but her blast was denied on a diving save by Stockton goalie Sarah Hinkle (Mullica Hill/Paul VI). Brianna DeStefano (Williamstown/Williamstown) later gave the Ospreys a 1-0 lead as she ran onto a through ball by Bridget Connelly (Deptford/Deptford) and scored with just under six minutes remaining in the half.

The scoring pace escalated late in the second half as the teams combined for six goals in the last 20 minutes. Julia Caseres scored with an assist by Albuja at 70:29 to pull the Gothic Knights into a 1-1 tie. The tally was the first NJAC tournament goal in school history for NJCU, which made its second appearance in the league playoffs.

The 1-1 deadlock was short-lived as Stockton took the lead for good on an own goal just 30 seconds later when a cross by Balnis was inadvertently volleyed into the net by an NJCU defender. Balnis scored a goal of her own just 2:16 after that by converting a feed from Jacque Becker (Hamilton/Steinert) for a 3-1 Stockton advantage.

Only 1:19 passed before Rachel Carlson (Mullica Twp./Oakcrest) took a long pass from Lauren McCutcheon (Haddon Twp./Haddon Twp.) and scored her first goal of the season on a breakaway. Five minutes later, Balnis went in alone, juked around NJCU goalie Brittany Hoffman and netted her second marker of the game to increase the lead to 5-1.

The Gothic Knights’ Margie Alfano scored on a 30-yard floater with 5:34 remaining for the 5-2 final score. Albuja collected her second assist of the game on the play.

Hinkle earned the victory in the Stockton net with three saves while Hoffman kept busy throughout the afternoon and finished with 10 stops for NJCU.