Photo by Giancarlo Sepulveda
The Roadrunners snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday after going scoreless in their last two games, a 3-0 loss to Rutgers-Newark at home and a 1-0 loss to Rowan University on the road in Glassboro. They defeated New Jersey Athletic Conference rival Rutgers-Camden 4-0.
“It was pretty important,” said sophomore forward Amber Hermanns about the Roadrunners’ win over Rutgers-Camden. “We wanted to stay in the NJAC and keep winning.”
The Roadrunners struck quickly in the first half, as team captain Nicole Ninomiya put a shot past goalkeeper Angela Martorano in the second minute of the game for her eighth goal of the season. Ninomiya scored again in the 16th minute, her ninth of the season.
After 27 minutes of scoreless soccer passed by, freshman forward Jessica Raccioppi extended the Roadrunners’ lead to three goals.
The score would then remain 3-0 in favor of the Roadrunners at the half. Eventually, the Roadrunners would seal the game early in the second half, as sophomore forward Gabriella DiLiberto put a shot in past Martorano in the 47th minute of the game for a comfortable four-goal lead. It was her second goal of the season.
“We wanted to extend the lead, but our main concern was to get a shut out, which we did,” said sophomore forward Nani Vizcaino. “We didn’t want to be scored on today.”
Vizcaino has missed the last eight games due to a torn ACL in her knee, and she will miss the remainder of the season.
The Roadrunners outshot the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden 26-15. What determined the outcome of the game was the Roadrunners’ ability to convert on their shot opportunities while the Scarlet Raptors could not.
With the win, the Roadrunners improved to 7-3-1 overall on the season and 2-2-1 against conference opponents. After the game, Ramapo was essentially tied with Rutgers-Newark in the NJAC standings, since Rutgers-Newark tied Stockton 1-1 in double overtime in their game on Saturday. However, Ramapo remained the number six seed for the NJAC postseason tournament since Rutgers-Newark defeated Ramapo 3-0 at the Athletic Center on Sept. 30, which gives Rutgers-Newark the tiebreaker advantage. Also of note, this was the first time that the Roadrunners scored three or more goals in a game since Sept. 16 when they defeated Drew University.
The Roadrunners were back action on Wednesday when they hosted the New Jersey City University Gothic Knights. Ramapo took home that game by another score of 4-0. They now stand at 8-3-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the conference.
The Roadrunners now sit in a three-way tie with Kean (3-1-1) and Rutgers-Newark (3-2-1), each team with 10 points (a win is three points, a tie is one point).
Ramapo will return to the pitch on Saturday as they travel to Ewing, New Jersey to take on The College of New Jersey, who are ranked the 10th best team in the nation.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
