Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – It was some Senior Night for Rutgers University-Newark as the Scarlet Raiders earned their first-ever berth in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament with a 3-1 win over Rutgers University-Camden under the lights on Alumni Field.
 
The Raider defense smothered the Scarlet Raptor attack, allowing just five shots, and juniors Cristina Estremera and Sara Corson and sophomore Paige Lazar netted goals as Rutgers-Newark (12-5-2, NJAC 4-3-0) punched its ticket for the 6-team conference playoffs for the first time in the 15-year history of the program.
 
The watershed victory also added to the already established program records of wins in a season and NJAC victories by head coach Bill Bustamante's charges.
 
Seniors Diana Aviles, Sarah Cunha, Victoria Nunez and Janelle Vega went out in style on their home turf.
 
Aviles (7-0-0) faced just one shot in the opening period to notch the victory and lower her goals against average to .66 before junior Veronika Tueros closed out the night with two saves against a goal allowed over the final 45 minutes.  Tueros stopped a breakaway run by Raptor freshman midfielder Amber Cobb in the 64^th minute to preserve the Raiders' 2-goal lead.
 
The Raider defense spearheaded by Victoria Benet, Emily Corson, Allyson Daly and Manuela Morales throttled Rutgers-Camden (6-10-1, NJAC 2-6-0) despite Rutgers-Newark being forced to play the final 20 minutes a player down after freshman midfielder Haley Savva drew her second yellow card of the night.
 
Estremera settled a ball outside of the 18 and ripped a shot into the top of the right side of the net for her eighth goal of the season in the 30^th minute to break the ice.
 
Four minutes later, Sara Corson sent a bicycle kick from the right side over a defender and Raptor sophomore goalkeeper Angela Martorano which bounced in the middle of the box, narrowly missing the crossbar before glancing off of the left post.  Lazar and a Raptor defender raced toward the post, and the ball glanced off of Lazar's right knee for a marker just inside the post.  It proved to be Lazar's fourth game-winning tally of the season.
 
Rutgers-Camden sliced its deficit to one in the 51^st minute when sophomore defender Mandi Noll powered a free kick from 23 yards out into the upper left side of the goal.
 
Sara Corson answered with her 16^th goal of the season at the 54-minute mark.  After a free kick scramble, freshman midfielder Sabrina Solorzano chipped the ball back into the left side of the box for Corson to put away the insurance header.
 
Martorano finished with six saves for the Raptors.  The Raiders constructed a 14-5 edge in shots and took the only two corner kicks of the contest.
 
Rutgers-Newark closes out the regular season at league-leading Montclair State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The Raiders will join Montclair State (15-1-1, NJAC 7-0-1), TCNJ (13-2-0, NJAC 7-1-0), Rowan (11-4-1, NJAC 6-1-1), Stockton (12-7-0, NJAC 6-2-0) and Kean (9-5-2, NJAC 3-4-1) in the league playoffs which begin on Saturday.  Rutgers-Newark will finish in fifth or sixth place, meaning an opening round road game at a site to be determined.