Highlights | Game Program
NEWARK, N.J. (November 11, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team rolled into the semifinals of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro/Upstate Championship Wednesday with a 5-1 win over seventh-seeded Centenary College at Alumni Field.
R-N improves to 14-7-1 with the win and will take on Drew University in one semifinal on Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Newark. The match was originally slated to take place in Pomona, N.J. but was moved to Alumni Field due to scheduling conflicts. Drew beat Brooklyn College in another semifinal. Centenary ends its season with a ledger of 11-9-0.
Despite holding the early edge in possession, the Scarlet Raiders were not able to generate their first attempt until 15 minutes into the action when junior
Mark Pazmino slipped a gorgeous pass against the grain to junior
Hubert Dul whose shot just missed the far post, keeping the game scoreless. Several minutes later, a Dul header following a picture-perfect cross from freshman
Zachary Gillespie looked destined for a tally, but Centenary goalkeeper Jesse Goleman made a remarkable horizontal save on the play, again keeping the Raiders off the board.
R-N kept at it, breaking through with a goal on the game's first corner kick. Junior
Anthony DeRisi took the kick and instead of lofting the ball into the middle of the box like he normally does, the all-conference honoree hit a solid pass along the ground to the top of the box where classmate
Dylan Elias was headed. Elias took two steps and deposited a one-timer into the upper-right of the cage for his third goal of the year, giving his team a 1-0 lead 21:13 into the match.
The 1-0 scored stayed the same through intermission, but Rutgers-Newark exploded for four second-half markers and cruised to the victory down the stretch.
The Scarlet Raiders went on top 2-0 with another sparkling tally in the 52nd minute after doing a splendid job passing and possessing the ball at the top of the box. Freshman
Damjan Agaj, junior
Mark Pazmino, junior
Tyler Nowak, sophomore
Carlos Castro and others all had quality touches before Pazmino dropped in to Nowak who immediately passed left to Castro for a one-timer from the top-left of the box. Castro's shot found the opposite corner of the cage, handing the Scarlet Raiders a 2-0 margin with his first goal of the season.
The lead swelled to three goals (3-0) at 65:01 when DeRisi headed home his sixth of the year on a cross from Dul, and 4:48 later, freshman
Timothy Farias scored thanks to a perfect through-ball from junior
Sebastian Gostynski. Farias chased the ball down, and created an angle before hammering his shot inside the far post for his fourth. Gostynski was credited with his team-leading eighth assist.
Freshman
Zachary Gillespie picked up the first goal of his career and became the 18th R-N player with a tally this season, finding the back of the net after a long ball from sophomore
Arek Szoldrowski with 14:39 to go.
Centenary scored its goal at 84:26 when Richy Castro netted his fourth of the season.
A total of 10 Rutgers-Newark players recorded points led by three from DeRisi who ended with one goal and one assist.
Elmer Flores earned the win in goal for R-N making one save in 45 minutes.
The Scarlet Raiders ended the game with 26-9 margin in shots, putting 16 on goal. The Scarlet Raiders also had a 4-1 margin in corner kicks.
Fans unable to make Saturday's semifinal contest against Drew can follow live via links at
www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com.
