NEWARK, N.J. | In the opening day of the 13th annual Brick City Classic the Scarlet Raiders (2-2) opened the afternoon with a 3-2 win over Pfeiffer University (1-1).
Pfeiffer stunned the Scarlet Raiders early on in the game with a goal in the fourth minute. Caleb Bratager found himself on the end of a Diego Moran pass at the back post where he was able to slot it underneath
Andres Medina for the first tally of the game.
Rutgers University-Newark would settle into the game and start playing their brand of soccer.
Juwan Ash tied the game up with his third goal in two games when
Anthony Oliveira passed it to him in the box. Ash would knock the ball into the right side of the goal in the 26th minute bringing his team level.
In the second stanza, the Scarlet Raiders would need just six minutes to take the lead. A foul at the top of the box set up
Joe Alba for a free-kick from 20 yards away. Alba wrapped his foot around the ball and curled the free-kick into the top left corner to beat David Chavarria.
Dino Branco and
Ryan Silva rifled off a pair of shots in an attempt to boost their lead to two but missed their mark.
Silva would put his skill on display and beat the defender down the left flank to send in a low driven pass to Oliveira in the box where he was able to redirect it into the back of the net. The Falcons would not waver as they regrouped and began putting the pressure on the Scarlet Raiders' defense. In the 73rd minute, the Falcons found a crack in the Scarlet Raiders' backline and were able to exploit it to score a goal with 18 minutes remaining in the game.
Ryan Caruso nearly struck gold just minutes later but saw his attempt bounce off of the woodwork and back into play. From there, the Scarlet Raiders possessed the ball to limit the scoring opportunities of Pfeiffer. The Falcons mustered up one final attack with 30 seconds remaining but had their shot trickle into the arms of Medina which sealed up the game for the Scarlet Raiders to give them back-to-back wins.
Up next for the Scarlet Raiders is the Violets of New York University at 2:30 pm tomorrow to cap off the 13th annual Brick City Classic.
