Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
The Ramapo College women’s soccer team took on the Medgar Evers College Cougars on Thursday at home, looking to put a game in the win column after losing their first two this season. In those games, the Roadrunners scored just two goals, but offense would not be an issue against the Cougars.
The Roadrunners earned an 11-0 victory against Medgar Evers, a young team that is trying to improve. Despite the lopsided win, Ramapo head coach Abby Shiffler doesn’t think the win will be a confidence booster heading into upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference matchups.
“It was a game that probably didn’t help us too much and we probably won’t play them again, no disrespect to them. They’re building, they’re very young, they have a brand new coach,” Shiffler said. “Other games would’ve been bigger; Manhattanville, Old Westbury, those are teams that we’re very close with that we should beat. But we are very young ourselves, so it’s going to take us some time.”
The Roadrunners’ young players certainly performed well in this game, as four Ramapo freshmen scored their first career goals, including forward Jessica Cusick, who scored twice in the game.
Freshman forward and midfielder Nani Vizcaino also scored twice, tallying her second and third goals of the season.
“It was a big win. We needed it. It was a positive,” Vizcaino said.
The Roadrunners drew first blood when freshman forward Gabriella DiLiberto scored unassisted for her first goal as a Roadrunner just 2:50 after kickoff. The Roadrunners extended the lead to 2-0 when Vizcaino recorded her second career Roadrunner goal on an assist from DiLiberto.
The Roadrunners would add to their lead at 17:51 as junior midfielder Nicole Ninomiya notched her third goal of the season on an assist from freshman forward Amber Hermanns.
Sophomore midfielder Kelsey Sutherland and Cusick also scored in the first half and Vizcaino scored her second goal of the game at 21:15.
The Roadrunners went into halftime with a commanding 6-0 lead over the Cougars. The dominance continued in the second half as the Roadrunners added five more goals to their lead. The first goal in the second half came at 52:01, when freshman midfielder Alexus Fuentes scored her first goal as a Roadrunner.
Not long after, freshman midfielder Karina Borda tallied her first Roadrunnner goal with fellow freshman midfielder Rebecca Hager providing the assist at 55:53. Cusick tallied her second goal of the game on an assist from Hager at 63:47.
Sophomore midfielders Brooke Miller and Lauren Laskowski scored their first goals of the season to put the icing on the cake.
The Roadrunners attempted a total of 31 shots, landing 16 on target, while Medgar Evers was held without a shot attempt the entire game.
Coming into the game Medgar Evers had an 0-2 overall record, giving up 26 goals in 180 minutes of play.
The Roadrunners will begin their NJAC schedule on Saturday when they travel to face Stockton College, who are 3-4 overall so far this season.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
