NEWARK, N.J. (November 17, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team secured its berth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship match tomorrow at 5 p.m. against Drew University after a thrilling win over New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival William Paterson University tonight on Frederick Douglass Field, 4-3.

The Scarlet Raiders, #1 in pod 3, improve to 12-8-1 while the Pioneers, #4 in pod 2, complete their 2018 campaign with a 14-8-1 mark.

Drew, the top overall seed, won an exciting match earlier in the evening against Wesley College (#3 seed in pod 4). The Rangers built a 3-0 lead before the Wolverines roared back but Drew hung on for a 3-2 victory and a spot in the championship game.

Rutgers-Newark had goals from four different players and assists from another two.

William Paterson outshot the home side 17 to 9 and held a slight 6 to 5 edge in attempts on frame while the teams were even on corners (3-3).

The Raiders rookie goalie Christian Andrach got the win with three stops while Kyle Quigley made one save in defeat.

The two sides had an explosive first half with some fantastic goals. Freshman Franco Catania opened the scoring yet again breaking behind the defense, collecting his own deflected shot off a charging keeper, and calmly putting the ball into the empty net.

The Raiders then doubled their advantage when another blocked shot fell to sophomore Ariel Parada who blasted a beautiful one-time volley that fizzed past defenders and the goalie into the left-side netting from just outside the box.

The Pioneers halved their deficit on an even more gorgeous strike. An attack down the right flank found Brandon Harley in the middle who made one last pass, laying the ball off for Cameron Allen. Allen delivered, perfectly curling his first-tine left-footed strike from the edge of the 18 to the right upper 90.

Still, Rutgers-Newark regained its two-score lead before the break. The home side switched the field from the right to left wing, finding senior Breno Lustosa. Lustosa took a touch before delivering a perfect cross that found the head of freshman Anthony Oliveira. Oliveira beat his defender to the near post and expertly guided the ball past the netminder to make it 3-1.

WPU's goalkeeper kept the visitors in the match early in the second half. A ball down the right wing found a streaking Catania who beat his defender and cut in on the goalie. From about eight yards out, Catania hit a left-footed shot on the ground but he was denied by a sprawling kick save.

The Pioneers got back into it in the 77^th minute when Allen struck again. After a scramble around the edge of the box, the ball fell to Allen who ripped a shot to the lower right-hand corner from about 20 yards out, earning a brace and pulling his squad to within one score.

However, a mere 41 seconds later, Newark restored its two-goal advantage. Off a blocked free kick on the left wing, rookie Joe Alba collected the ball, beat one defender, and then chipped a beautiful curling pass to the back post. At the back post he found classmate Ahmed Moawad who blasted the pass into the roof of the net to make it 4-2.

William Paterson still managed to make it a tense final six minutes when Jordan Saling pulled one back at 83:22. Zach Perez lofted a deep ball from the left flank towards the back post where Saling got his head to the ball and looped it back across the face of goal and over the keeper to cut his side's deficit to 4-3.