CAMDEN, N.J. – Since 2006, the New Jersey Athletic Conference men's soccer crown has practically been owned by Rutgers University-Camden and Montclair State University.

Which one of the storied programs will capture the 2014 crown will be decided Friday night when the third-seeded Scarlet Raptors visit the top-seeded Red Hawks. The teams will play at 7 p.m. for the NJAC title and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
 
NJAC Playoff Bracket
 
Livestats

Rutgers-Camden comes into the game as the three-time defending champion. Montclair State enters as the nation's 18th-ranked team, trying to regain a title it owned for four straight seasons from 2006-2009.

Over the last eight seasons, only Kean University, in 2010, has infiltrated the NJAC royalty established by MSU and Rutgers-Camden.
 
Seeking their fourth straight NJAC title, the Scarlet Raptors are looking to join an exclusive club. Since 1967, when Trenton State (now The College of New Jersey) ended a nine-year run as the champion (tri-champion in 1961) of the old New Jersey State Athletic Conference in the days before a post-season tournament, only two teams have managed to capture four consecutive NJAC titles. Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) did it from 1985-88, also before the playoff system was instituted. Montclair State, from 2006-09, is the only other team to win the title four consecutive years, and the only one to do it under the playoff system.
 
If Rutgers-Camden hopes to match the Red Hawks' accomplishment, it will have to do so at a venue where Montclair State has gone 8-2 this season, including a 5-2 victory over the Scarlet Raptors on Oct. 18. The Red Hawks, currently ranked No. 18 nationally in the NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll and No. 17 in the D3soccer.com rankings, own a 16-4 record and 11 wins in their last 12 games. They have been ranked as high as No. 3 nationally in the D3soccer.com poll and No. 6 in the NSCAA poll this season.
 
Rutgers-Camden, meanwhile, has gone 4-0-1 in its last five games and 6-1-1 in its last eight. The 13-7-1 Scarlet Raptors, who were ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA pre-season poll after finishing the 2013 season as a national finalist, have won back-to-back NJAC playoff games against William Paterson University (1-0 in the first overtime on Nov. 1) and Rutgers-Newark (3-1 Tuesday with a come-from-behind semifinal victory on the road).
 
Over the past four years, Rutgers-Camden has gone 8-0 in the NJAC playoffs to boost its all-time mark to 11-5-2 in the conference tournament. The Raptors' first NJAC title, in 2011, came with a 1-0 win over Montclair State. On the flip side, the Raptors' last loss in the NJAC playoffs came in the title game on Nov. 7, 2008 with a 1-0 loss to Montclair State. The Scarlet Raptors didn't reach the NJAC playoffs in 2009 or 2010.
 
The similarities between the two teams don't end with their storied history. This year the clubs combined to place 12 players on the All-NJAC First, Second and Honorable Mention squads, including seven by the Red Hawks. Scarlet Raptor senior tri-captain Joe Auleta (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) and Montclair State junior Damian Bziukiewicz shared honors as the NJAC's Pat Baldiserra Co-Midfielder of the Year. The award was named after the late, great Rutgers-Camden Hall of Fame player.
 
Montclair State junior Lucas Terci and senior Maxx Wurzburger joined midfield teammate Bziukiewicz on the NJAC First Team, with Terci being named the conference's Offensive Player of the Year. He collected 13 goals (three game winners) and 12 assists for 34 points.
 
Auleta and junior forward Mike Ryan (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) represented the Raptors on the NJAC First Team.
 
The NJAC Second Team included Rutgers-Camden junior midfielder Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) and senior back Eric Cutry (Medford Lakes, NJ/Shawnee), as well as the Montclair State quartet of freshman forward Kyle Goodwin, senior midfielder Brian Cullen and a pair of backs – Jon Krzysik and John Starner. Goodwin, who collected 13 goals and eight assists for 34 points, with six goals being game winners, was named the NJAC Rookie of the Year. Starner won the conference's David Logar Leadership Award, while MSU's Todd Tumelty was named the Coach of the Year after leading his team to the regular-season title with an 8-1 NJAC record.
 
Rutgers-Camden junior midfielder Grant Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham) earned NJAC Honorable Mention.
 
Ryan, a three-time NJAC First Team player who earned All-America honors in his first two seasons, leads the team with 14 goals (four game winners) and three assists for 31 points. No goals were bigger than the two he scored in a 13-minute second-half span in the NJAC semifinals Tuesday night at Rutgers-Newark, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead on the road to the championship game. Those goals also allowed him to tie for the program's career scoring lead with 118 points, a mark set last season by another All-American, Mitch Grotti (2010-13). Ryan already is the all-time leader with 53 goals at Rutgers-Camden and his 17 game-winning goals are two behind Grotti's program record.
 
Auleta, meanwhile, owns two goals and a team-leading eight assists for 12 points. Friday's game will be the 94th of his career, breaking a tie for the program lead he currently shares with Grotti. He has played in every Rutgers-Camden game during his career, starting all but his first collegiate contest. His current streak of 92 consecutive starts also is a program record.
 
Hurff is second on the Scarlet Raptors in goals (5), assists (7) and points (17), and continues to come up big in the playoffs. His overtime goal beat Paterson, 1-0, in the first round and he added an assist in the win over Rutgers-Newark, helping him earn honors Monday as the NJAC Offensive Player of the Week.
 
Taylor, who literally scored a last-second insurance goal against Rutgers-Newark, owns three goals and four assists for 10 points, while junior midfielder Jeramey Robbins (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) has three goals and two assists for eight points. Freshman midfielder Clayton Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham), Grant's brother, has three goals and six points, while senior midfielder/forward Ryan Kelly (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) owns two goals and one assist for five points. Sophomore midfielder Juan Rojas (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) owns four points, with one game-winning goal and a pair of assists, including the assist on Ryan's game-winning goal in the semifinals.
 
Four players – Auleta, Grant Taylor, Robbins and junior midfielder/forward Giuseppe DeLuca (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) – have played in all 21 games this season, with Auleta starting all 21. Ryan and Hurff have started all 20 of their games.
 
The Scarlet Raptors have anchored their defense, allowing three goals over the last five games, behind the back four of Cutry, senior Nick DiNapoli (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) and juniors Derek Lynch (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) and Ramadan Bayyan (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West). Freshman Sean Matias (Vineland, NJ/Millville), meanwhile, has started the last five games in goal and has gone 4-0-1 in that span, including two shutouts. He was named the NJAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
 
Head Coach Tim Oswald, in his ninth season, is the winningest coach in program history with a 135-46-23 record at Rutgers-Camden.