Women's Soccer: Runners Roll Past Northampton CC in Region XIX Opening Round

Final	1	2	T
Northampton Community College (10-3-0, 8-0-0)	0	0	0
Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester (8-7-0, 4-2-0)	6	0	6

Scoring Summary

1st - 0:00 - Ave' Buonpastore (Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester)

1st - 0:00 - Leigh Swietanski (Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester)

1st - 0:00 - Crisandra Civatte (Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester)

1st - 0:00 - Ave' Buonpastore (Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester)

1st - 0:00 - Seria Rivera (Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester)

Game Leaders

Northampton Community College

G: N/A

A: N/A

Sh: Hannah Seltzer - 3

Sv: Montana Cassaro - 20

Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester

G: 2 Players (#17, #21) - 2

A: Ave' Buonpastore - 2

Sh: Ave' Buonpastore - 6

Sv: Allison Gebhart - 2

Team Stats

Northampton Community College

Rowan College South Jersey - Gloucester

Shots (on goal)

0 (0)

34 (23)

Saves

Fouls

Corner Kicks

Offsides

full stats

Posted: Oct 27, 2019

With a large cast of new players on the roster to start the 2019 season, Roadrunner women's soccer coach Megan Ruttler knew her team would need time to establish their own team identity.

Following Saturday's 6-0 triumph over visiting Northampton Community College in Saturday's Region XIX playoff opener, you can safely say the Runners have indeed established their identity -- as a high-scoring, tough defensive, and perhaps most dangerous team currently still alive in the regional playoffs.

Thanks to two goals by forward Ave Buonpastore (Highland Regional) and solid offensive support from midfielder Leigh Swietanski (West Deptford) and Siera Rivera (Vineland), the home team rolled to the easy win.

"We're showing that we're playing well -- mainly a lot more fluid," said Coach Ruttler. "We had an attack and some defense .. we're a lot more alert out there."

The Runners applied relentless offensive pressure in the first half in racing to a 2-0 halftime lead. Ave Buonpastore (Highland Regional) got things moving with goal early in the half for a 1-0 lead. At the 39:00 mark, Leigh Swietanski (West Deptford), the team's leading scorer in 2019, booted in a goal to make it 2-0.

Buonpastore added a second goal in the second half as the Runners tallied four unanswered goals in the half for the win. Rivera closed out the scoring with her goal in the final 10 minutes of play.

"We were all ready and pumped to go,' said Buonpastore, "We knew we had to get past this first game. We're really confident and that's how we get our momentum going."

Ditto, said Swietanski, the team leader in goals scored this season. She noted that confidence and hard work in practice were the keys to success.

"We worked really worked hard all week, especially with fitness," said Swietanski. "We knew everything would pay off in the end."

Th Runners advance to Round 2 next week when they travel to Ocean County College. Game details will be forthcoming.

MATCH PREVIEW

Since the Roadrunner women's soccer team did not play Northampton Community College this season, the game plan for RCSJ Gloucester Coach Megan Ruttler entering Saturday's opening round Region XIX playoff match is pretty simple -- just focus on her own players.

The Runners and Spartans will square off in an 11 am contest at home, and despite not having played each other this season, Ruttler is supremely confident in her players.

"All we know about Northampton is what we're seeing on film, so we told the players to just focus on themselves -- work on their own strengths and execute their own game plan," said Ruttler.

Following a tough 1-5 start, the Roadrunners rebounded to win 7 of their final 9 games to finish 8-7 overall and 5-2 in the region. The Spartans enter the contest with a 10-3 overall record and 8-2 within the region,

The winner advances to Round 2 of the Region XIX tournament on Tuesday, October 29th at the higher seed. The Runners advanced to last season's Region XIX Final Four round.

Top players for the Runners this season have been freshman Leigh Swietanski, a midfielder from West Deptford who leads the team with 12 goals. Freshman midfielder Crisandra Civatte (Williamstown) added seven goals to the offensive efforts followed by Alyssa Meglino (Williamstown) with five goals.

Defensively, the squad has performed well against a rugged schedule. Top performers have included sophomores Kayla Davila (Buena), Angelina Mowad (Washington Twp.), and Morgan Wermurth (Gateway) along with freshmen Caitlin Schlosser (Clayton), Carly Malia (GC Christian), Alex Olsen (Williamstown), Ave′ Buonpastore (Highland), Katie Cave (Williamstown), and Siera Rivera (Vineland).

Goalkeeper Allison Gebhart (Delsea) has performed admirably in the second half of the season following an early injury, registering three shutouts.

"We started the season with a lot of new players, and it took us awhile to establish our own identity," said Ruttler. "We're at a good point now and hopefully will play well against Northanpton."