Box Score

NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers University-Newark equaled its program record for wins in a season by posting its first win ever against New Jersey Athletic Conference foe William Paterson, 3-2, on Alumni Field.
 
The Scarlet Raiders (10-5-1, NJAC 3-3-0) lost a 2-0 lead before junior midfielder Sara Corson and sophomore forward Paige Lazar hooked up for the second time on the night for the game-winning goal in the 82^nd minute against the Pioneers (4-7-3, NJAC 1-5-0).
 
The win gave Rutgers-Newark the most NJAC wins in a season in the 15-year history of the program and put them in a fifth-place tie with Kean (9-5-0, NJAC 3-4-0) in the 10-team league with three conference matches remaining.  It was the Raiders' first win against WPU bringing the series record to 1-13-1 with the tie coming in 2008.
 
On the decisive tally Lazar sent a through pass from near midfield to Corson on the left side.  Corson ran onto the ball outside of a defender, dribbled near the corner of the 18, cut back to the center of the field and ripped a shot into the far side of the net for her 12^th goal of the season.
 
Lazar figured in all of the Raider scoring, netting two goals in the opening 21 minutes to stake the Rutgers-Newark to a 2-0 lead before assisting on the game winner.  Corson sent a crossing pass over her head from the right side which got over a defender to Lazar.  After getting control with a touch toward the right side, Lazar put a shot over the goalkeeper into the left side of the net.  In the 21^st minute, Lazar netted her seventh goal of the season on a lobbed through pass into the middle by freshman forward Haley Savva.  Savva's pass bounced high at the top of the 18 where Lazar one-time the ball over Pioneer freshman goalkeeper Angela Sandelli who had come off of her line on the play.
 
Freshman defender Adrianna Oliveira assisted on both Pioneers goals to level the match.  In the 43rd minute, Oliveira sent a free kick from 25 yards out on the right side which Raider junior goalkeeper Veronika Tueros batted away to a waiting Gina Cowdrick.  The junior midfielder one-timed a shot into the right side of the goal for her fifth goal of the season to trim the Raider lead to 2-1 at the half.
 
The Pioneers drew even at 53 minutes when sophomore defender Tori Woetzel headed a corner kick from the right side by Oliveira inside the right post.
 
Tueros (4-5-1) made three of her four saves in the second half while Sandelli notched both of her stops in the final 45 minutes.
 
Rutgers-Newark out-shot the WPU, 13-10, based on a 7-3 first-half advantage while the Pioneers forged a 4-2 edge in corner kicks in the tightly-contested match.
 
The Raiders find themselves in the thick of the battle for one of six NJAC Championship Tournament berths entering the final two weeks of the season.
 
The 2004 Raider squad finished 10-7-1 under head coach Erik Burstein.  Tonight's win guarantees Rutgers-Newark a winning regular-season mark.  Six Raider squads posted two wins in the NJAC (2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010), but none ever reached the NJAC playoffs.
 
Rutgers-Newark visits Kean for a crucial NJAC battle at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Hillside, N.J.