NCAA Bracket
AMHERST, Mass. (November 19, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team will play in the 'Elite Eight' of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship after a convincing 3-1 win over perennial power and 22nd-ranked SUNY Oneonta Saturday afternoon on Hitchcock Field in Amherst, Mass.
The Scarlet Raiders will play Brandeis University with a trip to the national semifinals on the line after the Judges advanced to the quarterfinals over host Amherst College in penalty kicks. Sunday's match is slated for a 1 p.m. start and fans can follow all the action live via links at
www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com.
The 10th-ranked Scarlet Raiders improve to 21-3-0 overall and will be making the program's first-ever appearance in the 'Elite Eight' after knocking off a Red Dragon team that reached the 'Final Four' of the NCAA Tournament in 2015. Oneonta finishes the season with a record of 16-7-1, reaching the 'Sweet 16' for the third time in three years.
Rutgers-Newark did all its scoring in the first half, pouring in three goals in just 12:59 of match time. Two tallies came from junior forward
Chigozie Atubi just 3:43 apart, and the other was scored by sophomore
Stefano Muniz. Atubi has been on fire in the NCAA Tournament for the Scarlet Raiders, totaling eight points in the three wins on the back of three goals and two assists.
"I thought we played really well in the first half and we were able to score a couple nice goals which obviously went a long way," said Scarlet Raider Head Coach
Kevin East who has his team playing in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years.
The first marker of the game came in the 13th minute from Atubi with an assist from Muniz. On the play, Muniz slotted the ball to Atubi who took several touches before calmly placing his shot in the lower-left.
Just 3:43 later, Atubi put in some insurance with an unassisted tally that also went down as the game-winner. Freshman
Fabio De Sousa was able to win a header, and flicked the ball to Atubi who eventually drilled a shot from 25-yards out into the side netting for his sixth goal of the season and third game-winner.
The final score came from Muniz on a rebound to give the Scarlet Raiders a commanding 3-0 lead with 20:49 left in the first half. After a corner was cleared out of the box, junior
Carlos Castro headed the ball back in to sophomore
Zachary Gillespie who flicked to junior
Isaiah Kuris. Kuris put an attempt on target that was saved by Ryan Wilson, but the rebound bounced to Muniz for the tap in. The goal was the sixth of the season for Muniz, and Kuris picked up his first assist and ninth point overall (four goals, one assist).
R-N would take the 3-0 lead into the intermission, holding a 5-3 margin in shots as well.
Oneonta would turn up the pressure in the second, but the Scarlet Raider defense and freshman goalkeeper
Andres Medina would not allow the Red Dragons onto the scoreboard until the 84th minute.
In all, Medina made seven saves in the game, allowing a harmless goal with just 6:32 remaining from freshman Witman Hernandez. The Scarlet Raider rookie made two stops in the first 5:38 of the second and four saves in the period overall, and the Rutgers-Newark defense was able to stand up to 10 second-half corner kicks and 12 overall.
Oneonta – ranked 22nd nationally – ended the match with an 11-6 edge in shots and a 12-1 margin in corners.
"In the second half, our defenders and Andres really won the game for us," added East. "They put us under pressure because they had no choice, but our guys really stood up to the challenge."
Rutgers-Newark has allowed just one total goal against in 270 minutes of match time in the national tournament while scoring six goals of its own to advance to the national quarterfinals.
Admission to Sunday's 'Elite Eight' matchup with Brandeis is $6 for general admission, $3 for students and $2 for children ages 3-12.
Notes:
-The 21 games Rutgers-Newark has won in 2016 is a program-record. The previous high-water mark for wins was 17 set in 2014.
-Rutgers-Newark is now 4-2-0 in NCAA Tournament games. The Scarlet Raiders came into the 2016 national tournament 1-2-0.
-Brandeis and Amherst tied 1-1 after 110 minutes with Brandeis getting a spot in the quarterfinals via penalty kicks. The game counts as a tie on the two teams records.
-The Scarlet Raiders are now 12-2-0 in matches outside of Newark this season and 3-0-0 in neutral site contests.
-The win over Oneonta is the third over a ranked opponent this year for Rutgers-Newark.
-Dating back to last year, the Scarlet Raiders have won six-straight win-or-go-home games.
