NEWARK, NJ | The Rutgers University-Newark men's soccer team had their championship dreams crushed tonight in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship. The Scarlet Raiders fell 3-1 to Muhlenberg to end their 2021 campaign.

Rutgers-Newark (14-5-4) were the more aggressive team tonight, firing off 16 shots, however, they only put four on target. Muhlenberg (8-7-2) was efficient with their seven shots and put six of them on frame. 

Muhlenberg was the first team to put a tally on the scoreboard in tonight's ECAC Championship game and it came in the 12th minute. A free-kick was sent into the box and a Rutgers-Newark defender attempted to clear it but was unable to get it out of the box. The ball fell to Tarin Morris' foot where he had a perfect connection to send it into the top right corner of the goal. The Scarlet Raiders wouldn't trail for long as Miguel Sencion was taken out in the box by the goalkeeper, Zach Matik. Franco Catania went to the spot and powered his shot into the bottom left corner for his 20th goal of the season and to knot the game up at one. 

After the Scarlet Raiders found the back of the net via a penalty kick, the team found their stride and began to out possess the Mules. Rutgers-Newark put six shots towards goal in the first half and held Muhlenberg to just one. Juwan Ash nearly doubled their lead, however, his attempt went over the woodwork and out of bounds. 

With 19 minutes left in the second half, Andres Medina was forced to make his first save of the game after Muhlenberg won a free-kick from 20 yards out. As the second half began to whittle away, the Mules picked up their pressure on the Scarlet Raiders which paid dividends. Taylan Akdag played a perfectly weighted pass to a sprinting Chris Richards who tucked it into the right netting. Shortly after that goal, a mistake by Medina allowed Akdag to walk the ball into an open net to put the Mules up 3-1. 

The Scarlet Raiders earned their second penalty kick of the game but this time they were unable to convert as the attempt bounced off of the crossbar and away from harm. Rutgers-Newark wasn't able to threaten for the remainder of the game as Muhlenberg went on to win the ECAC Championship. 

Anthony Oliveira, Franco Catania, and Miguel Sencion were all named to the ECAC Division III All-Tournament Team.