Camden: Junior forward Tina Mascia (Deptford, NJ) collected a goal and an assist and the Rutgers University-Camden women's soccer team exploded for four goals to defeat Ramapo College, 4-0, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Saturday night.
The Lady Raptors' victory snapped an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) and won for the first time since Sept. 16. The win raises Rutgers-Camden's record to 7-9-1 overall and gives the Lady Raptors their first NJAC victory of the year (1-6). The Roadrunners fall to 5-8-2 overall and 2-4-1 in the conference.
After scoring only three goals in their previous eight games, the Raptors collected a pair in the first half, aided by Mascia. Rutgers-Camden scored at 13:08 when sophomore forward Jordan Wright (Audubon, NJ) worked into the middle of the box and slid a pass to the right for Mascia, who finished off a short shot by the post for her team-leading seventh goal of the year.
The Raptors struck again at 36:28 on a breakaway, which started in the back when sophomore Kathleen Malony (Haddonfield, NJ) cleared the ball to the midfield for Mascia. Mascia sprung sophomore forward Lindy Iannacone (Riverton, NJ) on a breakaway for her fourth goal of the season.
In the second half, the Raptors saw a pair of newcomers, freshman Dana Jarow (Sicklerville, NJ) and junior transfer Christina Coppola (Sicklerville, NJ) collected their first goals in a Rutgers-Camden uniform. Jarow headed home a corner kick to the far post by Jessica Leoni (Blackwood, NJ) at 58:32. Coppola scored with two seconds remaining in the game. Freshman Samantha Sharp (Haddonfield, NJ) sent a cross from the right corner to the far post, where Coppola finished the play.
Rutgers-Camden held a 13-8 advantage in shots and a 6-3 edge in corner kicks. Lady Raptor junior goalie Natalie Browne (Sewell, NJ) made three saves to post her second shutout of the season. Once again she was aided by a strong defense, led by junior back Heather Thom (National Park, NJ), who played her 60th career game to tie for 12th place on the program's all-time list. Thom, who is the only Lady Raptor to play in every game the last three seasons, is now only 19 games shy of the all-time record set by Katie O'Connor (2003-06).
With their sixth shutout of the year, the Raptors trimmed their team goals-against average to 1.03.
Ramapo junior goalie
Jessica DaRold (Sayreville, NJ) made five saves.
The Lady Raptors play a non-conference home game Wednesday when they host Stevens Tech at 6 p.m. The Roadrunners have a non-conference game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. when they entertain Lancaster Bible College.
