NJCU Women’s Wrestling To Make History February 6 with First-Ever Collegiate Match in State of New Jersey
JERSEY CITY, N.J. | New Jersey City University (NJCU) will make collegiate sports history on Sunday, February 6, 2022 when it hosts the first-ever collegiate women’s wrestling match held in the state of New Jersey. The match will begin at 12 p.m. at NJCU’s John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center in Jersey City, N.J., when the NCAA Division III Gothic Knights host NCAA Division II foe East Stroudsburg University. Both teams are receiving votes in the NWCA national poll.
The event comes four days after the 36th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day on February 2 — the start of the kickoff of the 50th Anniversary of Title IX.
NJCU announced the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling on May 1, 2019 as its 19th and 20th sports (the University now sponsors 24 sports and is one of the fastest growing programs in NCAA Division III). In doing so, NJCU became the first university in the state of New Jersey — and the tri-state region — to sponsor an NCAA women's wrestling program.
The women’s wrestling program officially began its first season of intercollegiate competition during the COVID-19 abbreviated 2020-2021 campaign with two regional events but did not participate in any regular season events, thus making the 2021-2022 season the first full year of competition in the program’s history.
NJCU has a long tradition of being a pioneer in women's athletics. Most recently in 2000, NJCU became the first NCAA Division III women's bowling program in the United States.
The sport of girls and women’s wrestling continues to grow nationally. In October 2018, New Jersey made history when high school girls wrestling was unanimously approved by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), making New Jersey the first state in the Northeast to offer the sport and the 12th state in the United States. In Winter 2019, the Garden State Classic was the first full-fledged girls high school wrestling tournament ever held in New Jersey and in February 2019, New Jersey girl wrestlers competed in high school regional tournaments for the first time.
The NCAA officially declared women’s wrestling as an emerging sport when it was added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women list in Summer 2020.
The historical match between NJCU and East Stroudsburg will be broadcast live on GothicVision (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com/GothicVision) or via Live Results.
About NJCU:
New Jersey City University is an institution of higher learning with an audacious goal: the development of our students, our city, our communities, our state, and the world beyond. We are a game-changing force for our students and their families. Whether our students are enrolled in one of our 50 undergraduate, 28 graduate or three doctoral programs, NJCU provides an affordable, diverse environment, and an exceptionally supportive faculty—all of which prepares them to be critical thinkers in a global landscape.
We’re also changing the game for our city, our communities, and our state. As the educational anchor institution in Jersey City, we’ve established partnerships to ensure the area’s growth directly benefits our students and community members. We seek to improve the lives of everyone in the Garden State, whether creating a home for the arts, bringing educational programs to K-12 students, offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with community colleges, or providing professional development opportunities for adults.
At NJCU, we’re not just educating minds, we’re nourishing souls and lifting communities. We’re changing the game.
Contact:
Ira Thor, Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations | ithor@njcu.edu | 201-200-3301