Freshman forward Juan Espinoza of the New Jersey University men’s soccer team will be featured in the September 26, 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated. Espinoza will appear in SI’s Faces in the Crowd section, and will become the fourth NJCU student-athlete on record to be featured in the magazine—all since December 2000—and the first men’s student-athlete. He is the third NJCU student-athlete featured in Faces in the Crowd. On December 11, 2000, Amanda Cobb became the first athlete in NJCU history to appear in SI after breaking the NCAA career record for saves by a goalkeeper at any level of men’s or women’s soccer.

Track and field athlete Diana Lawson was seen in the April 9, 2001 issue after winning the first of her five national championships. Jennifer Viens of the women’s bowling team had the quote of the week on page one in the April 22, 2004 issue of Sports Illustrated on Campus, after she bowled the first perfect 300 game in the history of the NCAA championship.

Espinoza, who currently leads the Gothic Knights (6-2) in goals (6) and points (13), was selected to appear in SI after scoring the only goals for the Gothic Knights in 1-0 wins over then #6 ranked Stevens Institute of Technology on September 10 and Johnson and Wales University on September 11. Those pair of victories led the Knights to a second consecutive championship in the NJCU Liberty Cup. He also had a hat trick that week against John Jay College (September 7) and was selected as the New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week. Through games of September 23, he is tied for the NJAC lead in game-winning goals (2). He ranks tied for third in goals, and goals per game (0.86), sixth in shots per game (3.29), eighth in the league in points per game (1.86), and total points (13), and 10^th in shots (23).