Feb. 10, 2007

DOVER, DE - New Jersey Institute of Technology was formally accepted as the sixth member institution in the United Soccer Conference, an NCAA Division I women's soccer league. The Highlanders will begin conference play in the fall of 2007.

On behalf of the USC membership, Commissioner Douglas Dowdy officially welcomed NJIT, which will compete in the soccer-only conference along with Delaware State, Howard, Longwood, South Carolina State and Utah Valley State, starting in the 2007 season.

The conference structure includes a five-game regular season round-robin schedule and a postseason tournament that includes all six teams. The top two regular season teams receive a bye in the opening round of the tournament. The next four teams open the tournament in first-round games, with the survivors advancing to meet the two top seeds in the semifinals, with those winners meeting for the championship. The 2007 postseason tournament will be hosted by Utah Valley State.

Admission into the United Soccer Conference will coincide with NJIT women's soccer becoming a full postseason championship-eligible member of NCAA Division I.

Soccer will be the first women's sport and the second overall at NJIT to achieve full Division I status. NJIT men's soccer became Division I championship-eligible in 2005. NJIT men's soccer is part of the Atlantic Soccer Conference, a men's soccer group that also includes Howard and Longwood.

The remaining Highlander sports are slated to achieve full Division I championship eligibility in 2009-10.

NJIT women's soccer coach Alyssa Radu is excited about joining the United Soccer Conference. "We think it will benefit us and it will benefit the conference," she said. "We hope to add to the competition in the conference and we think it will give our players the true experience of being a Division I student-athlete. They will experience the kind of travel and competition that doesn't exist in the other divisions.

"We are also excited that our team will have a chance to compete for a conference championship and that our players will have a chance to earn the individual recognition that comes with being in a conference with things like Player of the Week and all-conference teams at the end of the season."