CAMDEN, NJ – Rutgers-Newark came up one win short of reaching its first New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship match as defending champion Rutgers-Camden posted a 3-1 win in RUC Community Park.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Freshman forward Leonardo Liberato headed in the Raider goal on senior midfielder Gabriel Avans' sixth assist of the season in the 83rd minute, but the Scarlet Raptors were already in command, 3-0.

Raider freshman goalkeeper Matt Broomall stopped a penalty kick by junior forward Mitch Grotti in the 13th minute to keep the match scoreless until the 30-minute mark.  Camden notched two tallies in less than six minutes to take control and led 2-0 at the break.  Freshman forward Guiseppe DeLuca one timed a cross from the left side to the right side of the box by senior midfielder Casey Doyle into the net to break the ice.  At 36 minutes, a long throw in by Doyle found sophomore forward Corey Beltran to push the Raptor lead to two.

The Raiders turned up the pressure in the second half by putting eight shots on goal, but the Raptors upped the lead to 3-0 in the 77th minute when junior forward D.J. Finley fed freshman midfielder Mike Ryan for a breakaway run.

No. 17 nationally-ranked Rutgers-Camden held an 18-13 edge in shots and an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks.  However, the Raiders had just one fewer shot on goal as Broomall finished with seven saves and Raptor junior Mike Randall came up with eight stops.

In the second half, the Raiders piled up eight shots on goal with Liberato firing another on-target attempt less than two minutes following his goal.  Sophomore defender Joseph Huerta, junior defender Steven Fawzy,  junior midfielder Rafael Donado, senior midfielder William Munoz, freshman midfielder Amro Fawzy and sophomore forward Edgar Abreu each put shots on goal that Randall thwarted.

Rutgers-Newark (14-8-0) had upended nationally-ranked Rutgers-Camden (15-2-2) on September 15 in Camden, but the Raiders could not repeat the feat in post season.

The second-seeded Raptors host fifth-seeded Rowan (13-7-2), a 2-1 upset winner over top-seeded Montclair State (17-2-0) in the other semifinal contest, for the NJAC title and the league's automatic NCAA Championship berth tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

The Raiders reached the semifinal round for the second time in four seasons and made the 6-team championship field for the third time in four years under head coach Kevin East who was named the NJAC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year earlier this week.

Rutgers-Newark has set program records for victories in a season and NJAC regular-season wins.

With eight losses on the ledger, Rutgers-Newark will likely miss making the NCAA Championship field as an at-large team.  The Raiders are a likely high seed for the 8-team ECAC Metro Championship Playoffs.  The bracket will be announced on Monday with the opening round games set for Wednesday. Rutgers-Newark, which has gone to the past four ECAC tournaments, is the defending champion.