JERSEY CITY, N.J. (October 24, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team blanked NJCU on the road in New Jersey Athletic Conference play this afternoon, 2-0. The Scarlet Raiders close out their 2018 regular season with a 9-8-1 mark overall and 4-5-0 record in the NJAC while the Gothic Knights fall to 6-11-0 and 0-9-0 in the league.

Rutgers-Newark was led by senior Victor Navas Jr. and freshman Anthony Oliveira who each scored a goal while rookies Joe Alba and Davi Alves added an assist apiece. Freshman netminder Christian Andrach earned the win and clean sheet with six saves and Eric Lopes Silva suffered the loss while coming up with five stops.

The visitors edged the Gothic Knights in shots (16-15) and attempts on frame (7-6) but held a large 11-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Scarlet Raiders struck early, finding the back of the net less than eight minutes into the contest. The visitors earned three early corners but it was the fourth that finally got them on the board. Joe Alba whipped in a ball that found Navas Jr. who got his head on the cross and nodded it just inside the near post for his first score of the season and the eventual game-winner.

R-N kept the pressure on as Oliveira, senior Bryan Rodrigues, and rookie Franco Catania all put efforts on frame between the 15th and 19th minutes that forced saves from the keeper.

Still, with the Raiders unable to double their lead, it was Andrach that kept his side in front. At the 25:32 mark, Andrach denied an Edric De Paula free kick on a diving stop that saw him cover the whole net. Then, in the 38th, Andrach kept a Koshane Marshall header out with another diving effort.

Alba had the last say of the opening period, hitting a strike at 44:01, but his attempt was saved to keep it 1-0 heading into the break.

In the second half, a Navas Jr. shot was blocked which wound up leading to three consecutive corners for Newark in the opening two and a half minutes of the stanza.
The visitors could not capitalize on those opportunities, however, and the sides continued to trade chances.

Andrach denied a pair of shots in the 50th and 52nd while freshman Pape Taha had an attempt blocked and Catania saw his effort go wide in the 55th and 57th.

In the end, it was Rutgers-Newark that had the best chances to score before eventually sealing the contest with just one second to play. Freshman Brandon Parada had the keeper beat in the 74th but saw his strike go inches wide. Then it was sophomore Kelvin Opoku a little over a minute later who collected his own blocked shot inside the box but had his second effort clang off the post.

Finally, with under 10 seconds remaining, Alves sent a ball over the top that connected with Oliveira who tucked away his strike into the far left side netting, closing out the match in style for a 2-0 victory with the fifth goal of his rookie campaign.