CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 31, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Camden women's soccer team spent the 2018 season accomplishing feats that hadn't been seen in years, while establishing the Scarlet Raptors among the upper echelon of New Jersey Athletic Conference programs.
 
The Raptors' banner year continued today as a record seven members of the program were honored when the conference named its All-NJAC Women's Soccer Teams.
 
Head Coach Steve Weaver became the first Rutgers-Camden women's soccer mentor to ever capture the NJAC Coach of the Year honor, while freshman center back Breana Winder became the second consecutive Scarlet Raptor to earn NJAC Rookie of the Year recognition.
 
Sophomore forward Meghan Wachira was named to the NJAC First Team, one year after earning NJAC Co-Rookie of the Year and NJAC Second Team honors.
 
Winder joined freshman forward Ava Pizzaro and sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Eberhardt on the NJAC Second Team, while senior midfielder Melissa Peel and freshman right back Sophia Spadano were named NJAC Honorable Mention. It was the second consecutive season Peel earned All-NJAC Honorable Mention.
 
All-NJAC photo gallery
 
The seven NJAC honorees set a new standard for the program, which previously saw a high of five members named to the all-conference teams in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
 
Rutgers-Camden finished the regular season with an 8-7-2 record before dropping a tough 2-1 decision against Montclair State University in the opening round of the NJAC playoffs Saturday. The Scarlet Raptors are awaiting word of a potential ECAC playoff bid after the NCAA selections are filled this weekend.
 
The program's turnaround started last season in Weaver's first year as the head coach. He guided the club to a 7-9 mark and barely missed the NJAC playoffs on the last day of the season with a 1-0 road loss. This year the team not only posted the program's first winning season since 2007, but they also qualified for the NJAC playoffs for the first time since that year. With a 5-2-2 mark during conference play, the Raptors won five NJAC games for the first time since going 5-4 in 2005, and tied their overall top NJAC mark of 5-2-2, set in 2003. That 2003 season also was the only time Rutgers-Camden hosted a conference playoff game until this season.
 
The turnaround has come quickly under Weaver, who inherited a program that had posted sub-.500 seasons for nine straight years and went 4-10-2 the year before he arrived.
 
"I am honored to receive the NJAC Coach of the Year Award," he said. "The staff and players are a complement to this award. Without their tremendous effort day in and day out, this award is not possible. It is also an honor to be alongside so many quality coaches in this conference; the time I share on the sideline with these coaches is a privilege."
 
In its 18 games, Rutgers-Camden scored 25 goals, the most by a Scarlet Raptor squad since it notched 30 in 2009. The team only allowed 21 goals, its lowest total since 21 in 2008, and its six shutouts were the most since collecting seven in 2014.
 
"I am very happy for the players that received awards, all extremely worthy," Weaver said. "Many others could have received awards as well. We are excited about the growth of the program! We are beginning to see and feel a culture of winning. As we continue to find student athletes that align with our program's core principles, we hope to have what it takes to be a consistent winning program."
 
Wachira has been a huge part of that turnaround as she has developed into one of the top offensive threats in the conference. This season she led the Scarlet Raptors in scoring with nine goals and four assists for 22 points, including five game-winning goals, despite being the center of attention for every opposing defense after her amazing freshman year. In only two seasons, playing 34 games, Wachira has produced 22 goals, six assists and 50 points at Rutgers-Camden. She already ranks second on the program's career list with 12 game-winning goals – one behind the record – and is tied for seventh in total goals. She ranks 10th in points and had four games this season producing three or more points.
 
Peel, who has been a fixture at Rutgers-Camden since her freshman year, is the only other all-conference honoree this season who has multiple letters with the Scarlet Raptors. A four-year letterwinner who joined Wachira as two of the team's four captains, Peel has played in 63 games as a Scarlet Raptor, notching five goals and 13 assists for 23 points. She scored the lone goal in the team's NJAC playoff loss Saturday and her other goal this season was the game winner in an eventual 4-0 victory against New Jersey City University (Sept. 29).
 
Peel's 13 assists are tied for 12th on the program's career list.
 
Pizzaro helped take some of the pressure off Wachira up top, finishing second on the team in scoring with six goals and three assists for 15 points. In her 17 games (17 starts), she had three-point contests against both Kean University (Sept. 22) and New Jersey City University (Sept. 29), collecting a goal and an assist in both games. Her goal against Kean was the game winner in a 2-1 Raptor victory.
 
Eberhardt, a sophomore who played at West Chester University last season, helped to anchor a strong defense. She started all of her 16 games in goal, posted a 1.29 goals-against average and a .809 save percentage. Se notched four shutouts and 89 saves, including a high of 12 during a 0-0 shutout against NJAC powerhouse Rowan University (Oct. 10). She also had 11 saves in a 2-0 loss at Washington College (Sept. 8).
 
A huge part of the defensive success was the play of Winder and Spadano, a freshman duo out of Washington Township High School. Winder, a stalwart center back, started all 17 of her games and added one assist, coming on Peel's goal against Montclair State in Saturday's playoff game. Spadano, the Raptors' right back, started all 18 games for Rutgers-Camden and also collected one assist, coming in a 2-0 victory against Ramapo College (Oct. 13).
 
 
NJAC release