Box Score CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 29, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team knew what it needed to do in its Senior Night game here Thursday.
Needing a victory in order to earn a better seed for the New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs, the Scarlet Raptors turned in an outstanding effort against nationally-ranked Stockton University. Rutgers-Camden broke a scoreless deadlock on a record-setting goal by senior
Mike Ryan (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee), who became the all-time NJAC goal-scoring leader, and added an insurance tally by sophomore
Shane Guyer (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) to post a 2-0 victory over the Ospreys.
The Scarlet Raptors closed the regular season with an 11-7-1 record and earned the NJAC playoff third seed with a 6-3 conference mark. They will host No. 6 seed Rutgers-Newark Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $2 for children, students and senior citizens.
NJAC Men's Soccer Championship bracket Stockton, which is ranked No. 14 in the NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll, closes its regular season at 14-4-1, snapping a four-game winning streak. The Ospreys, who had already clinched the NJAC tournament's second seed, will host a semifinal game Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Stockton now leads the all-time series against Rutgers-Camden, 23-17-7, but the Scarlet Raptors are 4-0-2 in the last six games.
The game served as Senior Night for Rutgers-Camden as the Scarlet Raptors celebrated nine seniors in Ryan,
Ramadan Bayyan (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West), Ray El-Khoury (Cranford, NJ/Cranford), Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep), Riquan King (Winslow, NJ/Winslow Township), Derek Lynch (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville), Emilio Rodriguez (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick), Derek Shearer (Hamilton Square, NJ/Steinert) and
Grant Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham). Rutgers-Camden came out strong, dominating the first half with a 7-2 advantage in shots and a 3-0 edge in corner kicks, but the Raptors' best scoring chance slammed off the crossbar at 13:30 on a shot inside the box by Bayyan.
Midway through the second half, the Ospreys thought they had scored the game's first goal when a shot by sophomore
Alex Kourahanis (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) slammed off the goal frame and ricocheted beyond the box. Although the Ospreys claimed otherwise, it was ruled off the inside of the post, and the game remained scoreless.
Ryan changed the score and the NJAC history books less than five minutes later. The senior forward gathered a loose ball at the right top side of the box, spun and drilled a high shot into the right side of the net at the 70-minute mark. The goal was his 18th of the season and the 75th of his illustrious career, setting the all-time NJAC goal-scoring record. He had entered the game tied with Kean's Fred Guiran (1990-92) for the most goals in conference history.
The Scarlet Raptors tacked on insurance at 75:07 when freshman
Vincenzo Masitti (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) sprung Guyer racing past the Osprey defense toward the top of the box. He chipped in his second goal of the season to the left side of the net.
Both teams finished with 10 shots in the game, while both Raptor freshman keeper
James Brett (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) and Osprey senior
Bobby Varga (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) made two saves apiece. One of Brett's stops came off a point-blank bullet by
Chimaobi Ikwuagwu (Camden, DE/Caesar Rodney) in the first half.
