After completing her stellar four-year career as one of the best players in the history of the Rutgers-Camden women’s basketball program, Cara Racobaldo became an impact player on the Rutgers-Camden lacrosse team during her first season last spring.
Racobaldo led the Scarlet Raptors with 29 points, tied for the assist lead with 10 and finished third on the club with 19 goals during her first collegiate lacrosse season. She ended up earning New Jersey Athletic Conference Honorable Mention. With senior athletic eligibility for lacrosse, Racobaldo will return for her final season this spring.
During her standout basketball career at Rutgers-Camden, Racobaldo appeared in 101 games, the fourth-highest total in program history. She finished as Rutgers-Camden’s all-time leader with 503 assists, shattering the old program mark of 361, and also placed third in career steals (307), eighth in rebounds (663) and 18th in scoring (909 points). Her 151 assists as a senior was the third-highest single-season mark in team history and she also owns the fourth-highest total with 143 during the 2015-16 campaign. She collected over 100 assists in every season of her career, becoming the first player in school history – women or men – to notch four 100-plus assist seasons.
A three-time team captain, she was an impact player from the start of her career, setting a program record as a freshman with 21 consecutive free throws. As a sophomore, she collected a triple-double at New Jersey City University (Jan. 13, 2016), with her career-high 11 assists in that game tied for the third-highest single-game total in school history.
A Nursing major and Dean’s List student, Racobaldo has served as a member of Rutgers-Camden’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Racobaldo will team with Kacie Walton as the Scarlet Raptors’ co-captains this season.
Academics: Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the 2015 Fall, 2018 Spring and 2018 Fall semesters.
Lacrosse 2018: New Jersey Athletic Conference Honorable Mention…Led team in scoring with 29 points…Tied for team assist lead with 10…Notched 19 goals, third on the team…Had 60 shots, 39 on goal for a .650 percentage…Led team with 38 draw controls…Tied for fifth on the team with 17 caused turnovers…Collected 21 ground balls (seventh on the team)…Started all 13 games for the Raptors…Made her collegiate lacrosse debut against Gwynedd Mercy University (March 10) and collected one goal, three ground balls and three caused turnovers in a 16-15 Raptor win…Also had three ground balls and three caused turnovers against Montclair State University (April 14), while collecting two goals and one draw control…Had her season high of seven draw controls against Immaculata University (April 23), while adding five goals and two assists for seven points…Had her high of five caused turnovers, while adding three ground balls, three draw controls, four goals and one assist against Ramapo College (April 28)…Collected three goals and two assists against Manhattanville College (April 4), adding two ground balls and three draw controls…Had her high of three assists against Stockton University (April 17)…Notched at least one ground ball in 11 of her 13 games, while collecting two or more on seven occasions…Had three or more draw controls nine times, collecting five apiece against Stockton and Kean (April 19) before having her season-high seven against Immaculata…Had two or more goals five times and two or more caused turnovers four times…Also had two or more assists on four occasions.
Basketball 2017-18: Started all 26 games for the Scarlet Raptors, averaging 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds…Named the team’s Most Dedicated Player for the second time in three years…Led the club in assists for the fourth straight year, notching 151 for the third-highest single-season mark in program history…Led the team with 84 steals…Added three blocked shots…Shot .405 (122-for-301) from the field, .250 (11-for-44) from three-point range and .561 (32-for-57) from the foul line…In her second game of the season, she collected six assists against Pitt-Bradford (Nov. 17) to hike her career total to 362, breaking the program mark of 361 set by Karla Robinson (1990-94)…Passed the 400-assist plateau for her career with five against Arcadia University (Dec. 12), giving her a total of 404…Passed the 500-assist milestone in her final game, an ECAC tournament contest against Stevenson University (Feb. 28) to close her career with 503…Her nine-assist game against Rutgers-Newark (Jan. 27) gave her 108 assists for the season, allowing her to become the only player in school history (men or women) to notch four 100-assist seasons…Named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 5…Two-time Rutgers-Camden Raptor of the Week (Nov. 20 and Jan. 29)…Scored in double figures in 18 games, with a high of 20 points against Stockton University (Jan. 31) and followed by a 19-point contest against Kean University (Feb. 3)…Had 10 rebounds in the Stockton game for her lone double-double of the season and the sixth of her career (during which she also included a triple-double as a sophomore)…In addition to her nine-assist game against Rutgers-Newark, compiled an early-season nine-assist game against Gallaudet University (Nov. 26) and nine assists against The College of New Jersey (Jan. 17)…Added four eight-assist games, four seven-assist games and three six-assist games during the season…Overall, had four or more assists in 23 of her 26 games…Had 24 games with six or more rebounds…Notched her season high of nine steals against Kean University (Feb. 3), barely missing a double-double in a game she scored 19 points…Had seven games with five or more steals.
Basketball 2016-17: Started all 26 games as a junior co-captain, joining teammate Michelle Obasi as the only players to start every contest…Led the team with her 103 assists, while becoming the first player in program history to notch her third 100-plus assist season…Led the team with 76 steals…Finished second on the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg) and fifth in scoring (9.4 ppg)…Shot 105-for-268 (.392) from the floor and 27-for-39 (.692) from three-point range…Was named the Most Valuable Player and an all-tourney team member at the Jim Crawley Tournament at Frostburg State, helping the Scarlet Raptors win the championship of the two-day season-opening event (Nov. 18-19)…Notched a career-high 30 points in the tournament’s title game against Frostburg State (Nov. 19), shooting 10-for-18 from the floor and 10-for-11 from the foul line…That game was the first of 12 contests in which she scored in double figures during the season…Named Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week on both Nov. 21 and Jan. 9…Among New Jersey Athletic Conference leaders, finished third in steals and steals per game (2.92), fifth in assists and assists per game (4.0) and sixth in minutes per game (34.23)…Grabbed double-digit rebounds on three occasions, notching a pair of double-doubles against New Jersey City University (Dec. 3 with 18 points and 11 boards) and Ramapo College (Jan. 4 with 10 points and 12 rebounds)…Also had 12 rebounds at Misericordia University (March 1) in the ECAC tournament, while adding her season high of eight steals and dishing out seven assists…Notched her season high of eight assists, and added 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals, in the Scarlet Raptors’ second meeting against New Jersey City University (Jan. 21)…Scored 19 points against Stockton University (Feb. 1), her second-highest scoring output of the year…Had five or more assists on 10 occasions and added four more games with four assists…Collected four or more steals in 11 games.
Basketball 2015-16: Played in 25 of the Raptors’ 26 games, starting all 25…Served as a team tri-captain…Led the team with 143 assists (the third-highest single-season total in program history) and 78 steals…Averaged 8.9 points to finish fourth on the club…Also was fourth in rebounding with an average of 6.3…Shot 63 percent from the foul line (34-for-54) and 37.3 percent from the floor (90-for-241)…Named the team’s Most Dedicated Player…Named Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week on November 30 and January 18…Had a triple double at New Jersey City University (Jan. 13) with 18 points (aided by 12-for-18 shooting from the foul line), 11 rebounds and 11 assists….It was the first triple-double in the program since Krystal Jankowski (Jan. 10, 2007 against Rowan University)…Scored in double digits on 11 occasions, including a career high of 21 points at The College of New Jersey (Nov. 24), when she shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including 3-for-6 from three-point range, and was 2-for-2 from the foul line…In addition to her triple-double, had the first of two double-doubles during the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Rowan University (Dec. 2)…Added her other double-double with 13 points and her season high of 12 boards against The College of New Jersey (Jan. 20)…Grabbed 10 or more rebounds on four occasions…Had five or more assists on 18 occasions, including her 11 at NJCU (Jan. 13) and 10 against John Jay College (Dec. 13)…Also added a nine-assist game on a pair of occasions against Rutgers-Newark (Jan. 6) and Feb. 10)…Collected her season high of eight steals against William Paterson University (Dec. 12), one of 10 times she had four or more steals in a game.
Basketball 2014-15: Played in 24 games, starting 22…Led the team with 106 assists, at the time the sixth-best single-season mark in program history (now seventh), making her one of only eight Rutgers-Camden players to reach 100 assists in one season…Added a team-leading 69 steals…Averaged 6.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game…Shot a team-leading .761 (35-for-46) from the foul line…Set a program record by making 21 consecutive free throws between Jan. 7-31: made the last two of her three shots against Rutgers-Newark (Jan. 7) to start the streak, then went 4-for-4 against Montclair State (Jan. 10), 7-for-7 against NJCU (Jan. 14), 4-for-4 against both Ramapo (Jan. 17) and Rowan (Jan. 29), with a pair of 0-for-0 games sandwiched in between, and missed her first shot against Kean (Jan. 31) to snap the streak…Her streak broke the mark of 19 by Jen Christy to open the 2006-07 season…Named Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week Jan. 19, 2015…Made collegiate debut with a start against Neumann University (Nov. 15) and collected four points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals while playing 39 minutes…Notched her lone double-double of the season in her next game, coming against King’s College (Nov. 16) when she had 13 points and 15 rebounds, while adding six assists and two steals…It was the first of 14 times she dished off four or more assists on the season…Nearly had a quadruple double at Ramapo College (Jan. 17), when she had career highs of 18 points, nine steals and eight assists, while adding nine rebounds…Her nine steals against Ramapo tied for the sixth-highest single-game total in program history and was one of seven games in which she had four or more steals…Scored in double figures on four occasions, including the King’s College and Ramapo College games and also contests against New Jersey City University (Jan. 14, 15 points) and Richard Stockton College (Feb. 4, 10 points)…Was perfect from the foul line in six of the 12 games that she reached the line, with the best being her 7-for-7 performance against NJCU (Jan. 14)…Tied her career high of eight assists, and added her first collegiate blocked shot, in the Raptors’ final game of the season at New Jersey City University (Feb. 18)…Also had eight rebounds in that game, one of 10 games where she had seven or more boards.
High School: Captured nine varsity letters at Camden Catholic High School…Played basketball for Coach Chris Palladino, lacrosse for Coach Varsay Lewis and soccer for Coach Bridget Bigley…Captain in all three sports…Earned a Coaches Award and Unsung Hero Award in soccer…Basketball First Team All-Conference and team MVP both junior and senior years…All-Parochial honors as a senior…Played in basketball all-star game…In lacrosse earned First Team All-Conference and Defensive MVP.
Personal: Born September 13, 1996…Last name pronounced “Roc-a-ball-dough”…Nicknamed “Rock”…Hobbies include outdoor activities and hanging out with friends…Nursing major at Rutgers-Camden…Post-graduation plans include travel…Cara is the daughter of Anarea and Dominic Racobaldo of Pennsauken.
