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NEWARK, N.J. (September 22, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team earned a key, hard-fought victory in New Jersey Athletic Conference action over Stockton University on Frederick Douglass Field tonight, 1-0. The Scarlet Raiders improve to 5-3-1 (1-1-0 NJAC) while the Ospreys fall to 4-4-1 (1-1-0 NJAC).

Rookie Pape Taha netted the winner for Newark late in the second half. The sequence started when classmate Franco Catania played Taha a ball from the left wing. Taha made a turn around his defender and blasted a shot from a couple yards beyond the 18. Taha's strike was deflected by a leaping keeper but still managed to bounce over the line, producing the only goal of the match with 84:29 on the clock.

"Tonight was a good result for us and the three points were a boost in the standings," said Head Coach Kevin East. "We showed more maturity with the lead and throughout the game which I was pleased to see. Stockton was a difficult opponent who will cause other teams problems so I am happy with our effort. We just need to keep improving."

Freshman keeper Christian Andrach earned the victory with five saves, tallying his fifth clean sheet of the season. Dino Gromitsaris suffered the loss while making two stops.

Stockton outshot R-N 16 to 10, including five to three in attempts on frame while edging the hosts in corner kicks (4-3).

The Raiders return to action on Monday when the College of Staten Island comes to the Brick City for a 7:30 p.m. start.

In the first 15 minutes, each side had a few chances. Catania had a shot blocked 90 seconds in before Stockton forced the first save of the match about four minutes later. The Ospreys earned two corners 17 seconds apart before sophomore Joshua Breton-Jones saw his shot steered out for the home team's first corner of the contest.

Still, opportunities were few and far between after that initial flurry. A strike by freshman Joe Alba was blocked to grant another corner to the Raiders and the visitors had a corner of their own before Andrach made a comfortable stop in the 41^st. That would be it for the scoring chances in the opening period as the teams headed into the break tied at 0-0.

Stockton had the better of the chances for most of the second stanza. Ervin Gjeli was played in down the right-side of the box in the 56^th and created enough space to blast a shot that caromed off the far post. On the follow up, Anthony Chiaino forced a brilliant save from Andrach who recovered from his near post to get a strong right paw on the ball and steer it wide of the net. Larry Abanilla had the Ospreys threatening again in the 63^rd and 64^th when he launched a pair of strikes that just missed, one going wide right and the other going high.

Newark earned its first chance of the half when Taha had a header blocked to earn a corner for the home side. Unfortunately, the 73^rd minute cross by Alba was cleared by the defense with no attempt on target. Taha won another header off a free kick in the 77^th but his effort bounced harmlessly into the arms of the goalie. Rookie Ahmed Moawad produced a chance when he capitalized on a turnover in Stockton's defensive half, beating a defender down to the touch line before getting off a shot that went into the side netting.