EWING, N.J. (September 8, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team began its weekend at the 2018 TCNJ Men's Soccer Classic with a match against Elizabethtown College this afternoon at the TCNJ Soccer Complex. The Scarlet Raiders won their second contest in a row, blanking the Blue Jays 3-0 to even their record at 2-2 while Elizabethtown moves to 0-2-1 on the season.
Rutgers-Newark jumped out in front early, scoring just 2:21 into the game. Senior
Stefano Muniz set up the score, sending in a cross from the right wing that found the feet of rookie
Ariel Parada. Parada took advantage of the opportunity, rifling his shot past the keeper from the left side of the box for his second tally of the season, and what proved to be the game-winner.
"I thought we defended much better today and moved the ball a little quicker in possession." said Head Coach
Kevin East, "We scored three nice goals against a hardworking Elizabethtown side and I am pleased with how our underclassmen performed while the upperclassmen showed some excellent leadership in guiding us to a positive result today."
R-N kept the pressure on, earning a corner in the 5th minute, but freshman
Franco Catania's effort went wide.
Elizabethtown began to grow into the match after that, sending an attempt wide in the 11th before forcing rookie keeper
Christian Andrach into his first save less than a minute later.
The Raiders had a golden opportunity to double their lead in the 15th but freshman
Joe Alba saw his penalty stopped by senior netminder Brian Gately.
A pair of headers from the Blue Jays in the 27th and 38th minutes, respectively, were both on target but Andrach was up to the task as he made four first half saves to preserve the 1-0 lead.
In the second period, the sides traded chances inside the first five minutes before Rutgers-Newark produced a breakthrough that doubled its advantage.
Rookie
Pape Taha had the first chance as he took a shot that was blocked before Catania picked up the ball and sent his attempt wide in the 56th. Less than two minutes late, Taha engineered his side's second goal, laying the ball off for classmate
Anthony Oliveira who fired home a strike that went just inside the left post for his first collegiate tally.
The Blue Jays forced another save out of Andrach in the 64th but it was the Scarlet Raiders who would pull away about five minutes later.
Sophomore
Kevin Ocampo created the last goal of the match, sending a through ball in behind the defense for Taha who ran it down to set up a 1-on-1 opportunity with the goalie. Taha capitalized on the chance, beating the keeper and tucking away the first score of his collegiate career to make it 3-0 in the 70th minute.
Elizabethtown sent one more shot on target and earned one more corner late in the game but Rutgers-Newark and Andrach preserved the clean sheet.
The Raiders were led by Taha who produced a goal and assist while Parada and Oliveira added one marker each. Ocampo and Muniz each recorded a helper.
Keeper Andrach was in fine form, securing the shutout and making six saves while Gately made two stops in the loss.
Elizabethtown outshot Rutgers-Newark 13-12, including 6-5 in attempts on frame, while also claiming a slight 4-3 edge in corners.
Coach East added, "The goal is to get this young group a little better each day and today was a good day. Tomorrow will be a difficult test against a quality Gettysburg team."
The Scarlet Raiders cap their appearance at the TCNJ Classic against Gettysburg College tomorrow at 1 p.m.
