The Rowan women’s soccer team took down the New Jersey City University (NJCU) Gothic Knights in dominant fashion by a score of 3-0.

Olivia Giordano shined throughout this game, scoring all three of the Profs’ goals. After today’s performance, Giordano now has five goals in her last three games. 

“Right now, I feel very confident,” Giordano said. “I am feeling like I am working hard. I know within myself I have to keep my work ethic up. I know it is my responsibility to keep my head up. Keeping my head up is key to my being able to score as many goals as I can.”

The first goal she scored felt inevitable on Rowan’s end. The Profs had many problems with wasted opportunities to start the game, with a bunch of offside calls. 

The second goal she scored was because she never gave up on the play. Mackenzie Clement hit the post when trying to score. The ball ricocheted to Giordano who put the ball in the unguarded net with ease. For Giordano, her drive to be great comes from her competitiveness.

“I see that score on the board and I know it should be a lot higher,” Giordano said. “As a team when we work hard, we play our best. If we play with lousy and just let it go, we do not play our best. That is not the way we play. If we work hard that is all that matters.”

Head coach Scott Leacott always highlights the twin sisters of Julianna and Olivia Giordano’s work ethic. It was something he was once again happy to see on display in this one.

“Those kids are built differently,” Leacott said. “[Olivia Giordano] and [Julianna Giordano] never stop working. Sometimes I have to tell them to be ‘alright, relax a little.’ Sometimes I have to manage their training because they work that hard in there as well.”

Her final goal to achieve the hat trick came at the last possible moment for her, when she was about to be subbed out of the game. 

On the other end of the pitch for Rowan was complete supremacy. The defense allowed no goals, no corner kicks, and no shots throughout the entire game. The back line played extremely well throughout the game. 

“Our backline just has to stay confident and keep their heads up,” Giordano said. “We know how to play and keep those out. All it is confidence honestly.”

Siena Sowers got her first career start on the backline in this one. She played great throughout the game, specifically showing off her speed and outrunning the NJCU defenders consistently when she did not have the ball.

“Siena was excellent tonight,” Leacott said. “It is hard for a kid who does not see a lot of playing time in the first seven games of the season to play the full 90 minutes, but she has been training really hard. It is unfortunate we do not sub the back a lot of the time because of the cohesiveness we like to have. She was energized and ready to go.” 

The only problem the Profs had was the aforementioned offside calls that plagued them throughout the game. Rowan is typically a very aggressive team at the forward spots, so NJCU countered by playing a high backline. The Profs were called for six offsides within the first 20 minutes and had the total.

“We were being aggressive,” Leacott said. “If we are hesitant that is not helping us. We made an adjustment 25 minutes, and once that adjustment was made, we took over the game at that point.”

Rowan now moves to 2-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). It also handed NJCU their first loss of the season. In their first NJAC game, NJCU tied Montclair State University, which like Rowan, is a team that has NJAC title hopes.

“It is a big win,” Giordano said. “They tied Montclair. That is supposed to be a big game when we play Montclair. This makes us feel really confident. We knew we could shut NJCU out and we did.”

There are three conference games in between when Rowan will face off against Montclair State. They will look to stay undefeated during that time.

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