Region XIX Women's Soccer Player of the Year Leigh Swietanski (West Deptford) proved clutch, scoring a late goal at 87 minutes of the second half to lift the Roadrunners to a dramatic 1-0 triumph over Union County College in the Region XIX North Atlantic B Championship game at Ocean County College Friday to allow coach Megan Ruttler's team to earn a berth in the upcoming NJCAA National Championship Tournament in mid-November!
Swietanski's goal settled the defensive struggle before it reached overtime and enabled the Runners to avenge a loss to Union in this very same Region XIX title game in 2018. The Runners (10-7 overall) had also lost a tough 3-2 decision to Union earlier this Fall when they got off to a sub-par 1-5 start. RCSJ Gloucester bounced back from that early season free-fall to win 9 of their last 11 games in reaching the NJCAA Championship tourney.
See Region XIX Photo Highlights Here
Freshman goalkeeper Allison Gebhart (Delsea Regional) made some huge saves for the winners while teammate Angelina Mowad, a sophomore, performed well defensively to spark the win.
"Oh my gosh this felt unreal -- I looked at all my friends and said 'Is this really happening?'" sais Swietanski afterwards. "And so many of my friends on the team are the sophomores who lost to this team (Union) last year."
Mowad, one of Swietanski's close friends, basked in the glow of the win.
"It all happened so fast, but it was so nice to get redemption," Mowad said "It's great to be going to the national championships with the teammates I love so much!"
Ruttler was proud that her Runners were able to bounce back from last season's regional title loss to Union along with the early season defeat in September when her team was in the midst of a 1-5 start.
"This feels especially good, especially coming against Union -- we had lost three straight times to them over the last two years," Ruttler commented. "But we still had the confidence coming in here. We were well rested and had a great week of practice. We're proud of everyone on this team,"
The Region title was the sixth under head coach Ruttler, whose teams placed second in the 2012 national championship tournament and fourth in the 2017 tournament. The National Championship Tournament will be held November 14-17 at Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, New York.
GAME PREVIEW
The No. 3 seed Roadrunner women's soccer team will take on No. 2 seed Union County College on Friday at 1:00 p.m.in the Region XIX North Atlantic B Championship game at Ocean County College.
The Runners, who lost to Union 3-2 in a regular season contest, beat Northampton County CC last weekend to advance to the North Atlantic B title game. Union advanced with a win over Bucks County Community College.
Coach Megan Ruttler's team fell to Union CC in the Region XIX playoffs in 2018.
The Runners are led by freshmen standout and Region XIX Player of the Year Leigh Swietanski (midfielder, West Deptford). Aside from Swietanski, Roadrunner teammates Ave' Buonpastore (Highland Regional), Allison Gebhart (Delsea), Crisandra Civatte (Williamstown), Alyssa Meglino (Williamstown), and Kayla Davila (Buena) were all among the Region XIX honorees.
GAME DAY INFORMATION
Friday, November 1, 2019 at 1:00pm
Region XIX North Atlantic B Bracket Championship
#2 Union County College vs. #3 RCSJ-Gloucester
Livestream:
https://livestream.com/accounts/7865554/events/8875467
Hosted by:
Ocean County College
Coaches:
Megan Ruttler, RCSJ Gloucester
Angie Correia, Union CC
Records:
Roadrunners: 9-7 overall
Union CC: 12-3-1 overall