Box Score

GALLOWAY, N.J. – Looking at the possibility of a first-round bye in the New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs, the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team entered its last game of the regular season here Wednesday night needing to fare no worse than Rutgers-Newark fared against Montclair State University.
 
While the Scarlet Raptors were playing to a 1-1 double-overtime tie against Richard Stockton College, however, the Scarlet Raiders upset the NJAC's regular-season champion, Montclair State, 2-1. The results left Rutgers-Newark with a 7-2 conference record and the NJAC's second seed. Rutgers-Camden, which had been ahead of Newark based on a win against the Scarlet Raiders, fell to 6-2-1 in the conference and the third seed. Instead of a first-round bye Saturday, the Raptors will host No. 6 seed William Paterson University at a time to be determined.
 
The Scarlet Raptors will enter the NJAC playoffs with an 11-7-1 record. Stockton, which will be the No. 5 seed and play Saturday at No. 4 Kean University, is 11-4-5 overall and 3-2-4 in the NJAC.
 
Both goals happened within the first 2:32 of the game. Rutgers-Camden scored only 27 seconds into the contest – just seven seconds off the quickest goal in program history, scored by Mike Zeno 20 seconds into the game against Rowan University Oct. 12, 1994. Freshman midfielder Clayton Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham) scored his third goal of the season on a volley from the left wing, assisted by freshman midfielder Brad Maine (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic).
 
It didn't take long for the Ospreys to tie the game. At 2:32, sophomore forward Anthony Colofranson (Woodbury Heights, NJ/Gateway) collected his 16th goal of the season, knocking home a rebound off a shot by freshman forward Alex Kourahanis (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek).
 
In a game filled with six yellow cards – five by Stockton – the Ospreys played the final 39:37 a man down. Stockton, however, out-shot Rutgers-Camden, 11-9, overall, although the Raptors held a 3-0 advantage in shots in the second overtime. The Ospreys had an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks, all coming in regulation.
 
Raptor freshman goalie Sean Matias (Vineland, NJ/Millville) made three saves, while Stockton junior keeper Bobby Varga (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) had three saves.
 
Scarlet Raptor senior midfielder Joe Auleta (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) became the all-time career leader in games started at Rutgers-Camden, making his 90th career start in his 91st career game. He has started every game in his career except the first game, and his 90th start moved him past Tim VanLiew (2008-11), who started all 89 games in his career.
 
Auleta ranks second on the program's all-time list of games played behind Mitch Grotti, who played in 93 contests from 2010-13.