CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 20, 2021) – The Rutgers University-Camden women's soccer program celebrated seven athletes on Senior Night here Wednesday before playing to a 0-0 double-overtime draw against Ursinus College.
The deadlock leaves Rutgers-Camden with a 5-7-2 record, including a 4-1-1 mark in its last six games. Ursinus snapped a five-game losing streak to raise its record to 2-10-2.
Prior to the game, the Scarlet Raptors honored graduating players
Lauren Calabria, Bella Callender, Kayla de Guzman, Ava Pizzaro, Lindsey Rucci, Sophia Spadano and
Breana Winder, many of the core players who have helped turn the program around since their freshman year in 2018. Prior to that season, the Scarlet Raptors hadn't played a post-season game since 2007, but the team made both the New Jersey Athletic Conference and ECAC Tournaments in 2018. The Raptors have been a fixture in the NJAC playoffs ever since, including the pandemic-delayed 2020 season, which was held during the 2021 spring semester. The team earned the NJAC regular-season title for the first time in the spring and reached its first conference championship game.
Senior Night photos
Wednesday night's game turned out to be a summary of the Scarlet Raptors' season as the team played its fifth overtime game and was shut out for the seventh time. It was a similar story for Ursinus, as the Bears also suffered their seventh shutout.
The Scarlet Raptors had two golden chances in the opening two minutes, but one was saved by Ursinus keeper Mandy Carideo and another went wide to the right of the goal. By halftime, the Bears held a 3-2 edge in shots and both teams had three corner kicks.
Ursinus hovered around the Scarlet Raptors' goal for large portions of the second half, holding a 9-4 advantage in shots during the 45 minutes and forcing Raptor sophomore goalie
Kayla McKeever to make five saves. In overtime, however, it was the Scarlet Raptors applying the pressure with all six shots, including five in the second overtime period. Freshman
Josie Jackson-Conner nearly won the game in the 104th minute, but her shot from inside the box was denied on a brilliant save by Carideo. Carideo also made a one-on-one save later in the second overtime, moments before another Raptor shot hit off the crossbar.
McKeever finished with seven saves and Carideo had six, as both teams collected 12 shots and five corner kicks.
Rutgers-Camden hosts Rutgers-Newark Saturday at 1 p.m. in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
