Box Score

EWING, N.J. (Oct. 14, 2015) – Road games at The College of New Jersey have traditionally been nightmares for the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer program, and it was no different here Wednesday night.
 
The Scarlet Raptors allowed an early second-half goal and missed a late-game penalty kick for the chance to tie as they fell to the Lions, 1-0, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 9-5-1 overall and 4-2 in the NJAC with its second straight loss, while TCNJ improves to 7-4-2 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
 
The Lions hold a 23-7-5 lead in the all-time series, including a 15-1-3 mark at home. The Raptors' lone win at TCNJ came on Sept. 24, 2003 by a 2-1 margin. Since then, they've gone 0-4-3 on the Lions' turf.
 
The lone goal of the game came 10:20 into the second half when junior Nick Costelloe (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) dribbled into the middle of the field and ripped a shot into the upper right corner from 25 yards out. It was his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
 
The game finished with a flourish as TCNJ protected that lead into the closing minutes when Rutgers-Camden was awarded a penalty kick after the Lions were whistled for a hand ball in the penalty area   with 1:13 left in regulation after the Lions denied a scoring chance.
 
Senior Grant Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham) took the kick for the Scarlet Raptors, but it hit the near post and TCNJ's defense eventually got the ball out of harm's way to lock up the team's first conference win of the season.
 
Rutgers-Camden had a chance to pull even with 13:58 left when Clayton Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham) put a shot from point-blank range high, setting the stage for the frantic finish.
 
The Scarlet Raptors had two of the better chances in the opening half with both of them coming off of the foot of senior Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep). The first chance came 7:40 into the game as he touched a pass on goal that Lion keeper Jake Nesteruk (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) smothered.
 
He was denied again later in the half when Nesteruk punched away a scoring bid in the final 15 minutes.
 
Freshman defender Joerg Jauk (Lassnitzhoehe, Austria) had both of TCNJ's best chances with headers that went high.
 
Nesteruk finished with six saves, while Raptor freshman keeper James Brett (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) collected three.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Saturday when it hosts the NJAC's defending champions, the Montclair State University Red Hawks, at 1 p.m. Montclair State is ranked No. 5 in the latest NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll and No. 3 in the D3soccer.com rankings.