JENNIFER ALBUJA NAMED FINAL NJAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Monday, November 14, 2011 (Women's Soccer)
JENNIFER ALBUJA NAMED FINAL NJAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
PITMAN, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior striker JENNIFER ALBUJA (Union City, NJ/Hoboken) has been named the final New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week of the 2011 campaign—the fourth time in her illustrious career and the second time this season she has earned the accolade—after scoring four goals and one assist for nine points as New Jersey City University advanced to the semifinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Tournament.
The award is for week 11 of the 2011 season; Albuja also earned the honor for week three on September 19. Albuja, one of six different NJCU players to receive either the Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week or Rookie of the Week distinction this year, joins her partner in the 'A-C Connection', senior JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union), as two-time winners of the award this year.
Albuja finished her career as the most successful four-year player in the program's history, ranking 25th in Division III history in total goals (91) and tied for 31st in points (203). Albuja reached the 25-goal plateau for the second time in her career and the first time since 2008.
Albuja, a four-time All-NJAC selection who earned First-Team All-NJAC distinction this year for the second time in her career, finished the season with 25 goals, 11 assists and 61 points on 116 shots, including 59 shots on goal. She scored five game-winning goals, had five first goals, three hat tricks, two game-tying goals and two overtime tallies during a successful 14-8 season during which NJCU reached the ECAC semifinals, the NJAC quarterfinals, and equaled single-season school records for wins and shutouts (7). Albuja only had 10 assists in her first three seasons before more than doubling that total as a senior.
Albuja finished her career with 91 goals, 21 assists and 203 points on 402 shots, with a .537 shots on goal percentage and 216 shots on target. She scored 17 career game-winning goals in 81 games (81 starts) spanning 6,792 minutes of action.
She is NJCU's all-time leader in eight categories: points, goals, shots, shots on goals, shots on goal per game (2.67), games played, games started and minutes played. Albuja was second all-time in six categories—points per game (2.51), goals per game (1.12), game-winners, shots per game (4.96), and penalty kicks made (1) and attempted (2). She was third in total assists and 10th in assists per game (0.26).
During the week, Albuja and Caseres broke the NCAA Division III record of 432 combined points between two teammates, established in 1993, as the tandem finishing their careers with 445 points between them.
In a 6-0 win over CUNYAC champion, the College of Staten Island in the ECAC Quarterfinals on November 9, Albuja scored the first, second and third goals of the game for her third hat trick of the season and 13th of her career and added one assist for a seven-point game. She became the first player to score 200 career points only at NJCU, notching her 22nd, 23rd and 24th goals of the season and 88th, 89th and 90th of her career. Albuja had seven shots for NJCU (four on goal).
NJCU led CSI, 4-0, at halftime, scoring all four within the first 26 minutes of action. It took just 3:16 of play for the Knights to get on the board. Albuja stuck a shot inside the left post off a double assist for the only goal the Knights would need. Albuja made it 2-0 in the 17th minute, running onto a pass before firing a shot inside the left post at 16:49. At the 24:37 mark,
Albuja chipped a shot inside the left post from 18 yards to complete the natural hat trick. She assisted on the sixth goal of the game when she set up senior ERICA BUONACQUISTA (Aberdeen, NJ/Bayonne).
In a 3-2 loss to top-seeded and eventual champion New York University in the ECAC semifinals on November 12, NJCU trailed 2-0 before the Knights battled back early in the second half, scoring twice in the first 6:04 of the second period to even the game at 2-2 on a header by Albuja at 51:04. Albuja ran onto a bouncing throw-in and stuck a header into the right side of the net to even the game. She had five shots in the game.
In the final 2011 NJAC statistics, Albuja was the conference leader in points, points per game (2.77), goals, goals per game (1.14), and shots, and tied with Caseres for the league lead in assists and assists per game (0.50). She held a three-way tie for game-winning goals. Albuja also ranked second in shots per game (5.27) and game-winners per game (0.23).
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