Photo by Pauline Park
The women’s soccer team looked to keep their NJAC playoff hopes alive and to clinch only the second NJAC postseason berth in school history when they played host to their conference rivals, the Kean University Cougars on a brutal and rainy day at the Athletic Center Turf Field.
However, the Roadrunners lost 2-0, thus eliminating themselves from NJAC playoff contention.
The game was scoreless through the first seven minutes of play, until Kean sophomore forward Kaitlyn Pallitto put a shot past Roadrunners goalkeeper sophomore Jessica Cusick in the sixth minute of the game with to put Kean University up 1-0 on the extremely wet turf.
The goal was Pallitto’s 13th of the 2015 season and it was unassisted.
The game went scoreless for the next 33 minutes before the Cougars extended their lead to two goals on a goal by sophomore midfielder Jordan Thuman that was assisted by freshman forward Sabrina Pascarella.
That was all of the offense in this game as the Roadrunners were shutout for the third time this season. The 2015 season was a four-win improvement from a season ago as far as the regular season record is concerned.
The Roadrunners utilized a group that has been for the most part more familiar with each other than last season’s group. Last season’s group consisted of a lot of young freshmen that were not used to playing with each other.
The Roadrunners took major steps forward this season since they scored three more goals as a team in the regular season this year (41) than last year (38), and they earned six more points in the regular season this year (111) than last year (105).
In addition, this year’s Roadrunners squad has been more mentally tough than last year’s squad, as evidenced by the game they played against the College of New Jersey back on Oct. 17 since on that day the Roadrunners were able to hang in there against the best team in the NJAC despite a 2-1 loss in double overtime.
The Roadrunners have allowed 12 fewer goals in the regular season this year (20) than last year (32).
As a result of all this evidence, the women’s soccer team’s recruiting system is getting progressively better, thus the women’s soccer team as a whole is bringing more talent on board.
The Roadrunners finish the regular season with a 9-6-1 overall record, which is their winningest regular season record in school history.
The Roadrunners finished the regular season with a 3-5-1 conference, which is tied with the 2007 Roadrunners squad for the second best NJAC record in school history.
The Roadrunners will now wait for a possible ECAC Women’s Soccer Tournament bid, which will be announced on Nov. 9.
If the Roadrunners get into the ECAC Tournament, it will be the first time that they will be in the ECAC Tournament since 2007, it will be the fourth time in school that they will be in the ECAC Tournament, and it will be the first time that they will be in the ECAC Tournament under current head coach Abby Shiffler.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
