Box Score CAMDEN, N.J. – On a night when the constant rain turned the turf into a slick, wet surface, the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team had the fortitude to weather the conditions.
The Scarlet Raptors received a pair of second-half goals from junior forward
Mike Ryan (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and outlasted a strong Swarthmore College team, 2-0, in a non-conference game.
The Scarlet Raptors improve to 10-7 with their third win in the last four games. Swarthmore, which peaked at No. 18 nationally in the NSCAA Division III poll on Sept. 16, falls to 8-5-2, snapping a two-game winning streak and a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1).
With the rain hampering playing conditions, neither team developed many solid scoring opportunities in a game played mostly between the boxes. Rutgers-Camden held a 13-10 edge in shots and Swarthmore had a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks.
In the first half, a foul in the box gave Ryan a chance to break the scoreless deadlock with a penalty kick, but his shot was saved by Swarthmore junior keeper
Tyler Zon (Wellesley, MA/Noble and Greenborough). Later in the half, Raptor freshman goalie
Sean Matias (Vineland, NJ/Millville) made a save to bat a shot by the Garnets'
David Geschwind (Potomac, MD/Sidwell Friends) off the post.
The Raptors finally broke the scoreless deadlock at 71:54 when sophomore midfielder
Mike Naylor (Pine Hill, NJ/Overbrook Regional) carried the ball up the left side and sprung Ryan breaking in from the left side of the net. It was Ryan's 11th goal of the season and turned out to be the 16th game-winning tally of his career, three shy of the program record held by
Mitch Grotti (2010-13).
A little over eight minutes later, senior midfielder
Joe Auleta (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) sprung Ryan on a similar play. Ryan worked his way around Zon at the top of the box and fired in the insurance tally at 80:07. The two goals raised his own program record to 51 career tallies and increase his career point total to 114, four shy of Grotti's mark. The assist also was the 23rd of Auleta's stellar career, sixth on the program's all-time list and one shy of the three-way tie for third place.
Ryan nearly added a hat trick when he hit the post later in the contest, and the Raptors also barely missed another goal when sophomore midfielder
Matt Foster (Burlington, NJ/Burlington Township) hit the crossbar.
Matias finished with four saves to earn his second career shutout. Zon had four saves for the Garnets and Swarthmore also added a backsave.
Both teams return to action Saturday with 1 p.m. games. Swarthmore plays at Dickinson College, while Rutgers-Camden hosts Rutgers-Newark in a New Jersey Athletic Conference showdown between last season's NJAC playoff finalists. The game will serve as a feature attraction of Rutgers-Camden's Homecoming Day, as well as the final regular-season home contest and Senior Day celebration for Auleta,
Eric Cutry (Medford Lakes, NJ/Shawnee), Nick DiNapoli (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) and
Ryan Kelly (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford).
