Highlights | Game Program
NEWARK, N.J. (November 11, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's soccer team earned an exciting 4-3 victory in the opening round of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro/Upstate Championship Wednesday evening at Alumni Field. R-N took a 2-0 lead in the match, then trailed 3-2, before coming back with two goals in the final eight minutes for the victory.
The third-seeded Scarlet Raiders advance to the semifinals of the tournament and will take on seventh-seeded Bard College Saturday afternoon in Riverdale, N.Y. The time of the match is still to be announced. R-N is now 14-8-1 overall, tying the program's all-time wins mark set in 2014. Ramapo ends its season 9-7-1.
Both teams looked a bit rusty at the start as the Scarlet Raiders had not played since Tuesday, November 3, and the Roadrunners since October 28, but eventually things picked up and before the first half ended three goals had been scored.
Once the Raiders got their footing, senior forward
Sara Corson came close on several runs, either just missing or getting drawn into an offside call by the Roadrunner backline. Eventually, Corson broke free and chased down a through-ball and was taken down in the box, creating a penalty kick opportunity for the veteran. On that chance, the senior banged home her 20th goal of the season, giving the Scarlet Raiders a 1-0 margin with 16:44 left in the period.
Just 3:02 later, Corson found freshman
Juliana Ceballos with a cross, and Ceballos did the rest, scoring her sixth goal of the season. On the play, Corson passed left-to-right and Ceballos was able to get a nice controlling touch before putting a rip into the lower-left. The assist was the third for Corson.
Ramapo sliced the Raider lead in half when senior Autumn Herring converted a straight-on free kick from 20-yards out. The senior's bid hit off the bottom of the crossbar before bouncing in for her second goal of the season.
The Roadrunners came back to tie less than five minutes into the second half when freshman Skylar Rybacki headed in a corner kick off the foot of Michaela Knoblock, and then took a 3-2 lead when sophomore Amber Hermanns was able to chip in a bouncing long ball.
The Scarlet Raiders had several chances to tie, the first coming 1:05 after the Roadrunners took the lead, but Corson's blast hammered the crossbar and another one-on-one chance was thwarted by goalkeeper Jessica Cusick.
Later in the half, the Scarlet Raiders generated another breakaway. On the play, Cusick came out of the box and took down Corson, earning a red card and giving the Raiders a one-woman advantage for the final 13:28 of game time.
That edge eventually resulted in an equalizer as freshman
Salma Bouzidi delivered a perfect through-ball to Corson who hammered a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and in for her 21st of the season and fifth point of the match.
R-N found the clincher just 3:22 after tying the game in the 84th minute. Again Corson broke free, and this time her shot deflected off the keeper. Ceballos, who was following the play, chased down the rebound and put her shot in the back of the vacated goal, notching her seventh with just 3:25 on the clock. Corson earned an assist, ending the game with six points.
Rutgers-Newark finished the match with a 14-9 margin in shots, putting 11 on goal. Each team took one corner kick, with senior
Veronika Tueros making four saves to pick up the win.
The Scarlet Raiders – who entered last season with zero postseason wins – now boast four in two seasons (4-3-0).
Fans can follow @ScarletRaiders on twitter for updates regarding the ECAC Championship semifinals on Saturday.
