Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague
 
When Sarah Cunha arrived from Union Catholic a little more than three years ago to join the Rutgers-Newark women’s soccer team, the program was in a bit of disarray. The Scarlet Raiders couldn’t keep a head coach for long and more and more top players went elsewhere to attend college.
 
However, Cunha saw something in the R-N program and new head coach Bill Bustamante.
 
“Give credit to Sarah, because she’s one of the founding players of the program,” Bustamante said of Cunha. “She took a chance to help make the program where it is today. Her talent was tremendous. She was a fantastic soccer player. She came from a program in Union Catholic that had a lot of good players. She also played good club soccer (for Parma of Newark). I thought she had exceptional technical ability. We were fortunate to have her.”
 
Cunha was just looking for a place to play soccer and a school to learn enough to go to graduate school to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.
 
“I want to be able to help people all the time,” Cunha said. “I can’t be someone who sits behind a desk. I have to be active and on my feet.”
 
Much like Cunha is on the soccer field.
 
She doesn’t play a prominent role for the Scarlet Raiders. She plays several. She mans the midfield and at times moves up to be with the forward line. Cunha then slips back from time to time to aid in the defensive alignment. All not bad for someone who stands five feet tall – if she’s standing atop the Newark Yellow Pages.
 
“Sarah is extremely hard working,” Bustamante said. “She has taken to the role of being a team captain. She has the right demeanor on the field and every other player picks up on it. She gets the team ready for practice and games.”
 
That approach has definitely paid off, because the Scarlet Raiders are currently enjoying their best campaign during Cunha and Bustamante’s tenure at R-N. After winning just five of 20 matches throughout all of 2013, the Scarlet Raiders already own a 3-1-1 ledger.
 
“Finally, my senior year comes and we’re starting to see some results,” Cunha said. “We have a good group of girls who have made us at very least above average to where we were over the last three years. You look at the league (NJAC) standings and see us on top at No. 1. That’s amazing. You want to be able to progress, once you get that involved in the team.”
 
Cunha has delivered four assists already this season, compared to just one for all of 2013.
 
“She has such a commitment and love of the sport,” Bustamante said. “Her attitude is infectious to others. She wants them to love the sport as much as she does. She’s definitely one of the players you want to build a program around. She might not have the best statistics. The stats don’t do her justice. You can’t put a price tag on what she’s meant to the program.”
 
Bustamante said that Cunha’s endless energy is a motivation for the others.
 
“She’s extremely energetic,” Bustamante said. “She’s constantly moving and going. She’s also very demanding of herself. She wants and expects to be perfect every time. We try to use all of that energy to be a positive for the team. She expects nothing but to be perfect.”
 
Cunha said that she always had a lot of energy towards soccer, spending a lot of time in the family home in Hillside playing “hallway soccer,” with her 9-year-old brother, Joshua.
 
“I always have a ball in my house,” Cunha said. “Every once in a while, I just get out the soccer ball and kick it around the house or touch and pass with my brother. Hopefully, he can go further than me. He’s a boy. He’s supposed to be better than his big sister. He has to be able to beat me athletically. I tell him that every day.”

The energy aspect comes from a workout regime established by R-N assistant coach Arianna Ruela.
 
“She really pushed the fitness aspect of the game to us,” Cunha said of Ruela. “That really helped me out, keeping fit.”
 
The fitness level has aided in Cunha’s ball handling ability.
 
“She has worked extremely hard in her fitness and preparation,” Bustamante said. “She now has the ability to take the ball and go with it. She’s able to dribble around and through players now. She’s a fantastic player. She’s so dangerous at either position (midfield wing or forward). She can control the game from the midfield, so we need to try to isolate her. We just utilize her at what seems best for the team.”
 
Cunha doesn’t mind being the most versatile of the Scarlet Raiders.
 
“I’m more well rounded of a player now,” Cunha said. “I think I’m more useful to the team now. If I stayed in one spot, I wouldn’t be as valuable. I have to be able to attack, then get back and defend. I think that part has been very helpful and beneficial to me. I’ve gotten to see different areas of the field and it gives me a better perspective. It has also given me more playing time, getting some nice touches on the ball.”
 
Like Cunha did in a recent win over Cobleskill. Cunha collected three assists in that game.
 
“I need to be active, both on the field and in life,” Cunha said. “That’s just my lifestyle. I always want to stay active.”
 
Cunha said that she cannot believe the Scarlet Raiders’ current standing.
 
“It took three years, but I think we finally have a good team here,” Cunha said. “Everything is falling into shape. I’m so proud right now that we have such a good record. I haven’t had that. It’s something I’m always going to cherish. I’m so proud of the team.”
 
Cunha, a psychology and art major, is hopeful to get selected in an assistant physician’s program in graduate school, a program that the prestigious R-N post-graduate schools do not provide.
Bustamante can’t sing Cunha’s praises enough.
 
“I’m so excited about the potential of this team, because we have players on the team like Sarah because of Sarah,” Bustamante said. “She helped to bring them here. It’s a lot easier to recruit other top players when you already have one like Sarah. She took a chance to make it work here and that chance is finally paying off.”
 
Bustamante said that Cunha can leave after this season with her head held high.
 
“She’s definitely put her stamp on the program,” Bustamante said. “That was her goal when she first came. She wanted to leave her mark.”

“I like where we’re at,” Cunha said. “We’ve come a long way.”