CAMDEN, N.J. (April 21, 2021) – A stellar defense led the Rutgers University-Camden women's soccer team to the best season in program history this spring, and the Scarlet Raptor backs were well-represented when the New Jersey Athletic Conference named its All-NJAC Team today.
 

Junior center back Breana Winder (Washington Township, NJ/Washington Township) was named to the NJAC First Team, while freshman center back India Barnes (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter) joined junior forward Lauren Calabria (Hammonton, NJ/Paul VI) and sophomore midfielder Maggie Horn (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) on the NJAC Second Team. Another outstanding defensive player, junior left back Lindsey Rucci (Atco, NJ/Hammonton), earned NJAC Honorable Mention.

 
Winder has been one of the top defenders in the NJAC since her freshman season, when she earned NJAC Rookie of the Year and Second Team honors. As a sophomore, she captured NJAC Honorable Mention. This season she was named the NJAC Defensive Player of the Week on March 22. She added one goal to her stellar defensive work, which proved to be the game-winning tally in a 2-0 victory at Kean University on March 24.
 
A two-year team captain, Winder also has earned Rutgers-Camden Raptor of the Week honors during each of her three seasons on campus. She has appeared in 43 career games, starting 42, while collecting three goals and one assist for seven points. She owns two career game-winning goals.
 
Calabria came to Rutgers-Camden last season after playing at Caldwell University during her freshman year. She captured NJAC Honorable Mention after starting 11 of her 18 games as a sophomore, while leading the team with four goals. She notched one goal this season, while tying for second on the team with 10 shots and tying for first with five shots on goal. Her lone goal came during a 3-1 win over Ramapo College in the NJAC semifinals April 10. During her two seasons at Rutgers-Camden, she has played in 25 games, starting 18 and scoring five goals.
 

Horn opened her sophomore season by earning NJAC Offensive Player of the Week recognition on March 15. The honor came after her game-winning goal sparked the Raptors to a 3-0 season-opening win at Ramapo College on March 10. She finished with a team-leading two goals and 12 shots during the short season. In her two years at Rutgers-Camden, she has played in 25 games, starting 23. She has scored five goals, including two game winners.

 
Barnes teamed with Winder in the middle of the Raptors' solid back line to limit opposing teams to only two goals during the pandemic-shortened seven-game season. Along the way, she was named the NJAC Rookie of the Week on March 22.
 
Rucci, who has long been one of the outstanding backs in the NJAC, earned her first berth on the all-conference team after contributing to a defense that posted a program-record shutout string of 523:31. She started all 19 of her games as a freshman and has now played in 43 career games at Rutgers-Camden, starting 40. The Scarlet Raptors have posted 13 shutouts in that time.
 
Barnes, Winder, Rucci and Calabria were among the six Scarlet Raptors to start all seven games this season as the team posted a 5-1-1 record, including a 4-0-1 mark during the regular season. All five of those regular-season games were shutouts, marking the first time Rutgers-Camden has ever blanked NJAC opponents in five consecutive games.
 
With the best regular-season mark in the NJAC, the Scarlet Raptors earned the conference's top playoff seed for the first time ever. They won their first NJAC playoff game ever with a 3-1 semifinal victory over Ramapo College (April 10) and appeared in their first NJAC championship game, a hard-fought 1-0 loss against Montclair State (April 14).
 
In addition to their athletic accomplishments, all five players were Dean's List students during the 2020 Fall semester and were named to the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll. Horn and Rucci were among the 29 athletes on the 151-member AD Honor Roll to earn a perfect 4.0 GPA.



NJAC release