Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 8, 2016) – Two penalty kicks led to a pair of goals for the New Jersey City University women's soccer team here Saturday afternoon, and that proved to be enough for the Gothic Knights to outlast Rutgers University-Camden, 3-2, in the second overtime of a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
Freshman midfielder Maria Calle (Elizabeth, NJ/Hamilton Prep Academy) followed up a save of her own penalty kick to slide in the winning goal in the 105th minute as the Gothic Knights raised their record to 5-4-1 overall and 2-3 in the NJAC. Calle also scored the first NJCU goal on a penalty kick, with both penalties coming on fouls that brought down NJCU players in the box.
 
Rutgers-Camden, which was celebrating Senior Day for five departing players, falls to 4-6-2 overall and 2-3 in the NJAC. Honored on the field before the game were Aubrey Andrews (Haddon Heights, NJ/Haddon Heights), Sara Bockius (Medford, NJ/Shawnee), Catherine Fiore (Collingswood, NJ/Paul VI), Stephanie Rodriguez (Kearny, NJ/Kearney) and Kylee Schairer (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood).
 
The loss was the Raptors' first defeat against a team that wasn't ranked in the Top 25 nationally. It also snapped a four-game winning streak in the series against NJCU, which Rutgers-Camden now leads, 13-4. The last NJCU win before Saturday was a 2-1 victory in Jersey City on October 26, 2011.
 
Rutgers-Camden controlled the first half, outshooting NJCU by a 9-3 margin, but both teams were deadlocked at 1-1 by halftime. The Scarlet Raptors scored at 23:46 when freshman back Haylee Loveland (Riverside, NJ/Riverside) sent a ball into the box from the left side. Fiore hit a high shot to the far post that just cleared the goal line after NJCU junior keeper Paula Viana (Elizabeth, NJ/Hamilton Prep Academy) managed to get her fingertips on it. The goal was the fourth of the season for Fiore and her 21st career tally, tying Rachel Greenwald (2002-04) for seventh on the program's all-time list. The two points, meanwhile, lifted Fiore to 53 for her career, passing Jasmine Philip (1999-02) for eighth place on the program list.
 
NJCU evened the game only 2:23 before the half when a foul in the box gave Calle her first PK of the game, which she buried for her second career goal.
 
Rutgers-Camden regained the lead at 61:02 when Andrews headed in a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Melissa Peel (Gibbstown, NJ/Gloucester County Institute of Technology) for her third goal of the season. NJCU, however, knotted the score 13 minutes later after an attempted clearing header off a Gothic Knight corner kick came out to freshman midfielder Karen Tuesta (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) just outside the box. Tuesta plucked the clear out of the air with a perfect one-time looping shot inside the left post.
 
Rutgers-Camden had three chances early in the first overtime before NJCU outshot the Raptors, 3-1, in the second overtime, including the winning goal by Calle, her third tally of the season. It was her first career game-winning goal.
 
Viana finished with 12 saves for the Gothic Knights. Rutgers-Camden junior keeper Katie Gurba (Westampton, NJ/Holy Cross) had seven saves and also was helped out by a pair of backsaves.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Wednesday when it hosts NJAC rival Rowan University at 7 p.m. The Profs, who will be the sixth nationally-ranked team to face the Raptors this season, are currently ranked No. 13 in the NSCAA Division III poll and No. 9 in the D3soccer.com Top 25. A new poll will be released on Tuesday.