JACKSONVILLE, FL – Visiting NJIT won the first-ever men's soccer ASUN Conference game, 1-0, over Jacksonville on Wednesday evening at Southern Oak Stadium.

Freshman Rene White scored the only goal of the game and a team-leading fourth goal of the season for the Highlanders (4-2-2, 1-0 ASUN) in the victory.

Sophomore goalkeeper Victor Pujades and the NJIT defense kept the Dolphins (3-5-0, 0-1 ASUN) off the board in the first half.  Pujades was tested early, making a, diving save in the first five minutes off a volley from Alberto Escobedo.

White scored off a serve from Victor Kausch, putting the Highlanders on the board. In the 8th minute, Kausch served the ball from the left side into the box, where White settled and quickly finished to give NJIT a 1-0 lead.

White had another close opportunity, a header in the 20th minute, as Phillip Costa served the ball into the box, but the header went wide of the net.

Costa was doing his job on the defensive end as well, when the junior saved a ball shot by Stephan Spicer on the goal line. Pujades came out to punch the ball away from a free kick and Spicer gathered the rebound, seeing that Pujades was off his line and sailed the ball over Pujades, but Costa was waiting on the goal line to head it away.

In the second half, the Dolphins outshot the Highlanders 11-4, keeping the pressure on NJIT throughout the entire half.

The Highlanders were on the attack again in the 58th minute, when freshman Andrew Nino received a pass forward and ran away from the Dolphin defense, striking the ball just wide of the net.

Jacksonville's Joe Amico slipped behind the NJIT defense and was able to get one more shot off for the Dolphins in the final seconds but his ball sailed wide of the goal.

The Dolphins outshot the Highlanders 17-6 overall.  Pujades, tied for the league-lead with three shutouts, tallied eight saves to earn the clean sheet while Harding posted three for the Dolphins.

NJIT will host its first home ASUN game on Saturday, September 24 against FGCU for a 2pm game at Kean University East Facility Campus.

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