2010 D3soccer.com All-America Team (pdf)
BLOOMINGTON, MN (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior forward JULIA CASERES (Union, NJ/Union) has become the first player in New Jersey City University women's soccer history to earn national year-end honors in the sport. Caseres, a three-time New Jersey Athletic Conference selection and the league's all-time leading scorer, was selected to the inaugural D3soccer.com All-America team on Friday, and was voted Third-Team All-America.
Caseres, the all-time leading scorer—goals (78) and points (187)—among men's and women's players in the history of the NJAC, was among the NCAA Division III national leaders in several offensive categories, after finishing the season with 26 goals and 10 assists for 62 points in 22 games (22 starts) as the Gothic Knights posted a school-record 14-7-1 mark, qualified for the NJAC Tournament for the first time in program history and reached the post-season for the second straight year, securing a berth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Quarterfinals.
In the final NCAA Division III statistics of the season, Caseres ranked third in total points, fourth in total goals, ninth in points per game and 12th in goals per game while leading a scoring offense that scored 68 total goals and 3.09 per game—29th in Division III.
It was a successful encore to her sophomore season at NJCU when she scored 30 goals and added 13 assists for a school-record 73 points. That season (2009), she ranked second in the country in points, third in total goals and points per game, fifth in goals per game, and 27th in assists per game.
“This All-American laurel came as a surprise to me,” Caseres admitted. “Even though this is a prestigious accomplishment for me, I would not have achieved this without an All-American team here at NJCU. Being an All-American is much more than an award—it's the countless hours I spend training, the unimaginable pressure I put on myself to succeed for my team, and the outcome for my preparation for the one sport I love.”
This season, Caseres earned Second-Team All-NJAC distinction for the second consecutive season after earning Honorable Mention All-NJAC honors as a freshman in 2008 when she played at Rutgers-Newark. She led the NJAC in goals, points, goals per game, game winning goals (7), game winning goals per game (0.32), shots (117), and shots per game (5.32), and was second to Rowan University's Jess Babice, a First-Team All-America pick, in points per game. She also was second in total assists and third in assists per game (0.45) among NJAC players.
Caseres has 56 goals and 23 assists for 145 points in 44 games over two years as a Gothic Knight, and owns the career school record with 13 game-winning goals. She is second in school history in career assists—three shy of that record.
Caseres, who started as both a forward and midfielder and played 1,727 minutes, scored the first goal of a game seven times, netted four hat tricks, and tallied one game-tying goal. Caseres was named NJAC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career on September 13 and added ECAC Metro/Upstate Player of the Week honors to her accomplishments.
In all, Caseres was one of four players from the challenging NJAC conference among the 33 players nationally to earn All-America laurels. The teams were chosen by D3soccer.com staff, Division III soccer coaches and sports information directors from a field of 215 nominations.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
