Photo by Pauline Park
The Roadrunners looked to bounce back from a rough outing against defending NJAC Champion Montclair State University that resulted in a 4-0 loss, their worst loss of the season, and to keep their playoff hopes alive when they played host to the City College of New York on a day where they honored their senior class before the game. The Roadrunners scored nine goals, the most they have scored in a game since Sept. 11, 2014 when they scored 11 against Medgar Evers College, and the first time they have scored nine goals in a game since Oct. 8, 2014 when they scored nine against the College of Staten Island en route to a 9-0 win.
Senior captain Autumn Herring felt that coming out of the matchup against the City College of New York on the winning side was crucial in order to keep NJAC playoff hopes alive.
The Roadrunners got on the board in the 22nd minute of the game when senior forward Alexa Ragusa placed a shot past Beavers goalkeeper Emily Ramos for her first of four goals in the game and her fourth of the season to put the Roadrunners up 1-0. Sophomore forward Amber Hermanns provided the assist on the play. Ragusa would score again in the 35th minute of the game with Hermanns again assisting on the play for her second assist of the game. Three minutes later, senior captain Nicole Ninomiya would get into the offense barrage as she scored unassisted for the Roadrunners’ third goal of the game.
This was also Ninomiya’s first of three goals on the afternoon and 10th goal of the season. Ninomiya would score unassisted again with 50 seconds left in the first half for her second of the game and 11th of the season. This was the first time that the Roadrunners scored four goals in a half since Sept. 9 of this season when they scored in the second half of a game against New Paltz.
The Roadrunners picked up right where they left off in the second half as senior defender Rebecca Galarza scored unassisted for the first goal of her career in the 71st minute of the game. Then, one minute later, Ragusa would blast a shot into the net for a third time on the afternoon with an assist by freshman midfielder/forward Gabrielle Gentilucci, her first career assist. Galarza scored unassisted again in the 73rd minute of the game for her second career goal and her second of the half.
Then, Ninomiya would score for the hat trick in the 84th minute of the game with the assist by Ragusa, her third assist of the year. Lastly, Ragusa would score for the fourth time on the afternoon in the 87th minute of the game, which was unassisted. This was Ragusa’s seventh goal of the season. The five goals scored by the Roadrunners in the second half were the most they have scored in a half this season.
Galarza felt that scoring the first two goals of her career and celebrating with teammates afterward was exciting.
“Well, I usually play defense so it was exciting to score and to celebrate with all my teammates,” said Galarza.
The Roadrunners outshot The City College of New York 58-0. Thirty-five out of Ramapo’s 58 shots – 60 percent – were on goal. Also of note, sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Cusick did not even have to record a single save in this game.
The Roadrunners return to action on Wednesday when they play host to conference rival Kean University in a do or die game. The Roadrunners will need a win and a Rutgers-Newark loss to Montclair in order to clinch an NJAC postseason berth for only the second time in school history.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
