NJCU’S JULIA CASERES VOTED THIRD-TEAM ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN

Thursday, December 1, 2011 (Women's Soccer)

NJCU'S JULIA CASERES VOTED THIRD-TEAM ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN 

McLEAN, VA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University women's soccer senior striker JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union) has been honored on the national stage for excellence in academics and athletics. Caseres, who last month was named a 2011 Capital One Academic All-District® II Division III Women's Soccer First Team selection, has become just the second women's soccer player in school history to be voted to the prestigious Academic All-America® team and this week was named to the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Women's Soccer Third Team.

Caseres a Criminal Justice major with a 3.58 grade point average, was one of only two players from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to earn Academic All-America® this season. She joins current assistant coach Katie Feehan Veloz as the only Gothic Knights to ever earn Academic All-America® honors; Feehan was a Third-Team selection in 2005 and 2006 before claiming First-Team accolades in 2007.

The 2011 All-America® ballot consisted of only those players who previously were voted First-Team Academic All-District® selections from the nation's eight regions. To first be nominated for All-District, student-athletes must be a starter and significant contributor of at least sophomore academic status, with a minimum GPA of 3.30. All nominations and voting are conducted by membership of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

"It's an honor to achieve this award," said Caseres. "It's always great to achieve an academic award through athletics. It shows that with hard work and determination you can excel on and off the field. To know that I was competing against other student-athletes at some of the top academic schools in the country makes it even more special."

Caseres, a four-time All-NJAC selection in her career, led the Gothic Knights to a 14-8 overall record (4-4 NJAC) and to its third consecutive appearance in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament, reaching the ECAC semifinals for the second time in that span. NJCU also qualified for the NJAC Tournament for the second straight season.

Caseres earned Honorable Mention All-NJAC status this season after collecting Second-Team All-NJAC and Third-Team D3soccer.com All-America last season. She finished the season scoring 22 goals with 11 assists for 55 points in 22 games (22 starts). She attempted 102 shots with 48 on goal and a.471 shots on goal percentage. Caseres netted five game-winning goals, scored the first goal of a game six times, and collected three hat tricks and one game-tying goal in 1,736 minutes of action.

A two-time NJAC Offensive Player of the Week in week one and seven (September 5 and October 17), she was also a one-time ECAC Metro/Upstate Player of the Week. Caseres earned Second-Team Academic All-NJAC honors during the 2010-11 season. She ended her career ranking tied for 12^th in Division III history in points and tied for 15^th in goals.

The all-time leading scorer in NJAC and New Jersey collegiate soccer history among Division I, II or III players—men or women— Caseres finished her career with 100 goals and 42 assists for 242 points in 86 career games between Rutgers-Newark (2008) and NJCU (2009-11). She had 478 career shots (239 SOG) and 22 game-winning goals, while making 7-of-10 penalty kicks.

In three seasons at NJCU, Caseres, who was also named Second-Team All-NJAC as a sophomore in 2009, tallied 78 goals and 34 assists for 190 points on 370 shots (175 shots on goal), netting 18 game-winners in 66 games. She is NJCU's all-time leader in eight categories—points per game (2.88), goals per game (1.18), game-winners, assists, assists per game (0.52), shots per game (5.61), penalty kicks made (4), and penalty kicks attempted (7), while listing second in points, goals, shots, shots on goal and shots on goal per game (2.65).

The 'A-C Connection' of teammate JENNIFER ALBUJA (Union City, NJ/Hoboken) and Caseres finished their careers as the all-time leading scoring combination in Division III history with 191 goals and 445 points. The 445 points is five better than a pair of players for #1 ranked Messiah College, heading into the NCAA Final Four this weekend.

In the final 2011 NJAC statistical leaders, Caseres ranked tied for first with Albuja in assists, assists per game (0.50), and game-winning goals, second in the league (to Albuja) in points, points per game (2.50), goals, and shots, fourth in goals per game (1.00),  and fifth in shots per game (4.64).

Nationally, as of December 1, Caseres is currently among the NCAA Division III leaders in total points (8^th), total goals (12^th), points per game (16th), goals per game (20^th), total assists (29^th), and assists per game (45^th).

—www.njcugothicknights.com—