NEWARK, N.J. (Oct. 6, 2018) – In all the years since the Rutgers University-Camden women's soccer program joined the New Jersey Athletic Conference in 2000, the Scarlet Raptors had never opened their NJAC season with 10 points in their first five games.
 
Until now.
 
The Scarlet Raptors received a goal from sophomore Meghan Wachira in each half and went on to defeat Rutgers-Newark, 2-1, here Saturday night. The Scarlet Raptors hiked their record over .500 to 6-5-1 overall and improved to 3-1-1 in the NJAC. Their previous five-game NJAC-best mark was 2-2-1 in both 2003 and 2004.
 
Rutgers-Newark falls to 5-6-2 overall and 1-4 in the NJAC. The Scarlet Raiders are now 3-13-3 in their all-time series against Rutgers-Camden.
 
Wachira, pictured above, gave the Raptors the lead for good at 14:53, chipping a 28-yard shot into the net after taking control of a turnover deep in the Newark defense.
 
Wachira made it a 2-0 game at 62:02 following a foul just outside the Newark penalty box. Taking a free kick from the top left side, just outside the box, Wachira placed a perfect shot into the right side of the net. It was her team-leading eighth goal of the season and fifth game winner.
 
Wachira raised her career total to 21 goals, tying Rachel Greenwald (2002-04) for eighth on the program's all-time list. She now has 11 career game-winning goals (third) and the four points hiked her career total to 48, passing the 46 by Nicole Lauri (2000-03) to move into 10th place in program history.
 
Moments after Wachira's second goal, Newark scored in the 64th minute on a header by Jill McCourt off a corner kick by Juliana Ceballos.
 
Rutgers-Camden held a 15-12 edge in shots and a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks. Raptor sophomore goalie Natalie Eberhardt made five saves, while Newark keeper Heidi Paulson had eight saves and was aided by one backsave.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Rowan University in a 7 p.m. NJAC game.