NEWARK, NJ – Freshman defender Vanessa Rivera scored off of a corner from classmate Alex Nata in overtime to lift Rutgers-Newark to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over St. Joseph's LI in the opening round of the Scarlet Raider Soccer Classic on Alumni Field.

Scarlet Raider Soccer Classic
Widener 13, Medgar Evers 0
Rutgers-Newark 3, St. Joseph's LI 2 (OT)

It took a heads up play by junior midfielder Liana Abreu and senior forward Karen Johnson in the 88th minute to force the overtime. St. Joseph junior goalkeeper Michelle Gulino, who kept the Golden Eagles in the fray with eight saves, inadvertently dropped the ball in the middle of the box and picked it up after it had rolled beyond the line. The referee whistled the foul and in the mad scramble that ensued, Abreu positioned herself in the middle and punched  the ball to Johnson who was waiting near the right post to kick in the tying goal.

Gulino had helped St. Joseph's maintain a lead for most of the match despite a hefty 27-8 advantage in shots by the Scarlet Raiders.

In overtime, the Raiders had four of their 10 corner kicks with the last one ending the decision. Nata looped the corner into the middle of the box where Rivera managed to get a foot on it in heavy traffic to push the ball in to the right center of the net.

Freshman midfielder Erin Beach scored 18 minutes into the match when she took a pass from senior defender Nicole Christensen and rolled a soft ground which somehow got under junior goalkeeper Kat Renteria for the only score of the opening period. It was the only shot of the half for St. Joseph's while the Raiders failed to score on 10 tries.

Junior defender Camelia Valentin leveled the score in the 56th minute on a penalty kick into the left side after Abreu was taken down in front of the Golden Eagle net.

But, the Golden Eagles took the lead again at 71:16 when senior forward Ashley Demeo took a long run up the right sideline and hit a crisp cross from deep in the zone back into the middle for freshman midfielder Samantha Garcia to collect and put away against Renteria.

Renteria made all four of her saves in the second half to pick up her third win of the season.

In the opener, Widener (3-1-0) got two goals apiece from five players on its way to a 13-0 win over Medgar Evers (1-3-0).

Rutgers-Newark can claim the Classic championship with a win over Widener tomorrow at 5 p.m. Medgar Evers faces St. Joseph's in the 8 o'clock nightcap.