NEWARK, N.J. (November 15, 2015) – For the first time since 2011, the Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro/Upstate Championship. The Scarlet Raiders defeated Manhattanville College by a score of 3-0 Sunday night on Alumni Field.
Sophomore midfielder
Carlos Castro earned Most Valuable Player honors, scoring two goals in the final, including the game-winner, and three in the tournament overall.
MVP Carlos Castro Rutgers-Newark finishes the season with a record of 16-7-1, giving the program at least 16 wins in three-straight seasons. The Scarlet Raiders have now won a remarkable 49 matches since the start of the 2013 season, and the senior class of
Matt Broomall,
Paul Tarnawski and
Ardian Djeka graduate with a total of 63 wins (14 in 2012, 17 in 2013, 16 in 2014 and 16 in 2015).
Manhattanville finishes its season with a record of 10-7-5 and reached the final by upsetting top-seeded Stockton University Saturday. R-N reached the final with a 5-1 win over Centenary College and a 1-0 OT victory over third-seeded Drew University Saturday night.
Castro scored two goals 2:59 apart in the first half to stake the Scarlet Raiders to a 2-0 lead, and the team would never look back. The tallies were his second and third of the season with the first being assisted by junior forward
Charlie O'Connell who scored Saturday's game-winner in overtime.
At 13:46, O'Connell chased down a ball played into the box, warding off the M'Ville defense before the ball rolled out of bounds. The junior then passed back to Castro about 10 yards off the far post who calmly controlled before depositing his shot into the lower-left of the cage.
Just 2:59 later, Castro struck again with a remarkable individual effort, controlling the ball off of the top-right corner of the box and about eight yards off the sideline. The second-year Scarlet Raider then blasted a shot from that area, approximately 35 yards away, putting it inside the upper-left corner for the score.
R-N did a nice job limiting the Valiant chances for the remainder of the first half, ending the period with a 5-3 margin in shots as Broomall made a pair of stops – one of which he deflected off the crossbar.
Broomall finished the match with three saves, earning his ninth shutout of the season. The veteran ends his career with 27 clean sheets, nine coming in 2015. Rutgers-Newark pitched 10 shutouts as a team this year.
Rutgers-Newark ended the game with a 14-9 edge in shots, also holding a 6-3 margin in shots on target. The Valiants finished with a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Scarlet Raiders went on top 3-0 thanks to a Manhattanville own-goal at 73:43 which was caused by R-N junior
Anthony DeRisi. DeRisi chipped a ball in front from the left wing, and when the Valiant defender went to clear the cross, his kick deflected off one of his own players and into the goal.
R-N continued to press late, constantly possessing the ball deep in the Manhattanville zone, but the Raiders settled on the 3-0 final.
Rutgers-Newark men's soccer has made the postseason every year since 2008 – a string of eight-straight seasons.
