ECAC Tournament Central
NEWARK, N.J. (November 11, 2018) – This afternoon the top-seed Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team doubled up third-seeded Manhattanville College in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Second Round on Frederick Douglass Field behind a hat trick from rookie
Franco Catania, 4-2.
This victory, R-N's second in two days, puts the Scarlet Raiders into the semifinals next weekend and sees their record improve to 11-8-1 while the Valiants close their 2018 season with a 13-6-0 mark.
Rutgers-Newark was led by Catania who picked an opportune time for his second career hat trick. Senior
Breno Lustosa also had a strong afternoon in the center of the park with a pair of assists.
Freshman keeper
Christian Andrach earned the win and made four saves while Charles Roberts suffered the loss and matches his opposite with four stops.
The Raiders will wait to see how the other matches shake out this afternoon to see who their semifinal opponent will be and where the semifinals and final will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday next weekend.
Catania got R-N off to a fast start for the second straight day, scoring 16:35 into the contest. Senior
Bryan Rodrigues played the forward into the box and Catania did the rest, fighting his way around defenders before poking the ball through the keeper's legs.
Sophomore
Joshua Breton-Jones was the facilitator for Catania a little over 13 minutes later as the rookie doubled his side's advantage. Breton-Jones slipped in a ball behind the defense on the left side that Catania tucked away to put his team firmly in the driver's seat.
Still, Manhattanville fought back after the break. Nico Diaz produced a strong run in the center of the pitch before dishing the ball to his left for an oncoming Jeancarlo Vasquez. Vasquez made no mistake with his opportunity, halving his side's deficit at 52:22.
However, less than three minutes later, the Scarlet Raiders restored their two-goal advantage. The hosts attacked down the right side and worked the ball to Lustosa. Lustosa cut in on the right side of the box before playing a square pass to sophomore
Adonis Scotland. Scotland buried his first-time shot to make it 3-1.
The Valiants would not go down without a fight though and again made it a one-score game in the 62nd. Vasquez made it a brace when Jack Balasiano blasted a strike from just inside the 18 that Vasquez got a deflection on at the last second to cut the visitors' deficit to 3-2.
At 68:09 though it was Catania once more who would put the match out of reach. The hosts attacked down the right side, eventually finding Lustosa who cut the ball back from the right endline for Catania who blasted his right-footed effort past the goalie to complete his hat trick and round out the scoring for the day.
