NEWARK, N.J. (September 1, 2015) – The Rutgers Unversity-Newark men's soccer team was defeated 2-1 by the United States Merchant Marine Academy Tuesday night in the season-opener at Alumni Field.

The Scarlet Raiders were able to erase a 1-0 deficit 10 minutes into the second half but the Mariners tallied the game-winner in the 68th minute.

Merchant Marine (1-0-0) saw the better run of play and possession in the opening 45, holding a 14-5 edge in shots and putting six on goal compared to one for the Scarlet Raiders (0-1-0).
 
The guests were able to capitalize in the 28th minute of action on an unassisted marker from senior forward Dan Weldon. The veteran corralled a loose ball 28 yards out in the middle of the field, before placing a perfect shot in the upper-left corner for his team's first goal of the year.
 
Senior goalkeeper Matt Broomall made several spectacular saves in five first-half denials for the Scarlet Raiders, the most notable coming in the 31st minute when he dove to his right to keep a Gavin Yingling bid from going in.
 
The Scarlet Raiders' first quality chance of the opening stanza came when freshman forward Damjan Agaj crossed from left-to-right to junior midfielder Hubert Dul who ripped a shot that missed the right post by inches.
 
Several minutes later, Dul took a one-timer that junior Cory Maier made a diving save on to keep the contest scoreless at the time.
 
The Scarlet Raiders pulled even in the 56th minute on a pretty goal from sophomore forward Chigozie Atubi. Sophomore midfielder Arek Szoldrowski found himself with the ball in the middle of the field before sneaking a through-ball between a pair of defenders to Atubi. Atubi controlled, working his way into the box before delivering a shot that beat Maier on his right side and snuck in the lower-left corner.
 
Merchant Marine went in front at 67:38 with an unassisted score from Yingling who was able to win a loose ball and fend off two Scarlet Raider defenders in front before putting in a tough shot.
 
Broomall made a remarkable save with a shade under 17 minutes to play to keep the match at 2-1, extending vertically and horizontally to his right to bat a Yingling shot out of the harm's way, but the Raiders were unable to find another equalizer in the loss.
 
The best R-N chance came with three minutes to play when sophomore back Isaiah Kuris fed junior midfielder Sebastian Gostynski who attempted a left-footed volley in front that was saved.
 
Merchant Marine ended the match with a 22-9 margin in shots, an 8-3 edge in shots on goal and a 9-6 advantage in corners. Broomall made six saves for the Scarlet Raiders.
 
Rutgers-Newark will return to the pitch Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Brooklyn College in another non-conference showdown.