Over her 12-year career as head coach for the Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) Women’s Soccer program, Megan Ruttler has learned that cultivating team chemistry is critical to maintaining the Roadrunner’s status as one of the nation's most successful Junior College Division III programs. 但即使她经验丰富, Ruttler could not have predicted that her players would find inspiration in a near-tragedy weathered as a team.  

9月1日, freshman midfielder/forward Ella Van Dine had invited her fellow Roadrunners to her Wenonah home for some team bonding over a pasta dinner. The women were unaware that Hurricane Ida and its three powerful tornadoes were preparing to tear their way through 威尼斯人注册 County until a chorus of emergency alerts blared through every cell phone in the room.

"We got the emergency alerts, and we kind of ignored them," said sophomore center back Emily Martin. "We get them all the time and you never expect (something to happen) in New Jersey. The next thing you know the windows are shattering and everyone is sprinting to the basement."

RCSJ玩家, including several whose automobiles were completely totaled, 蜷缩在队友的地下室里, anxiously waiting out the storm and wondering if they would survive.

"When we were in the basement, we thought that was it for us," said sophomore back Sabrina Baer. “我们以为这是我们的最后时刻."

Once the storm subsided and the damage was assessed, the Roadrunners discovered an incredible bond amid the loss. 这一点在范丁身上表现得最为明显, whose family home was deemed uninhabitable following the storm. 她, 还有她的父母和哥哥, are relocating to a rental home nearby until repairs are complete; but in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Van Dine found herself overwhelmed by the support of her new RCSJ teammates.

“女孩们给我发短信:我们能做什么?范丁回忆道. “一些女孩过来带了防水布. They even stayed after when there was a lot of cleanup to be done, 当我们不得不离开的时候收拾东西."

这种经历可能会让任何一支球队出局, but this impressive group of women has turned disaster into a catalyst for victory. The Roadrunners are off to a strong start with their perfect 6-0 record and the No. 在NJCAA三级联赛中排名全国第二. This unblemished mark includes wins over nationally-ranked Union County College and traditional powers Montgomery Rockville (Maryland) and Division II Mercer CCC.

教练Ruttler, while duly impressed by her team’s repeated victories on the field, cannot help but focus on the incredible resilience of her players and the bond that they have formed.

“Life took a sharp turn when those tornados ripped through our area, and the team really leaned on each other to get through a terrifying experience” reflected Ruttler. “我冲进地下室, 窗户就在他们眼前破碎, to then learn a lot of personal property was damaged – it brought them together. 另外, they stuck by Ella's side offering aid in any form possible for a group of young adults. Monetary donations, tarps for the roof, a warm/dry bed to rest. They stepped up for one another and I'm deeply proud of them for that."

Rowan College of South Jersey’s honor societies and Foundation have teamed up to help members of the RCSJ community effected by Hurricane Ida – with 100 % of all proceeds going directly to 威尼斯人注册 County families in need. 加入Phi Theta Kappa的成员, α β γ, 的, Lambda Epsilon Chi and Mu Alpha Theta in offering a helping hand at RCSJ.edu/IdaRelief. 

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