Box Score ONEONTA, N.Y. (Nov. 15, 2015) – Nationally-ranked SUNY-Oneonta scored a coal in each half and went on to eliminate Rutgers University-Camden, 2-0, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship tournament here Sunday afternoon.
NCAA Interactive Bracket The Red Dragons, ranked No. 8 in the NSCAA Top 25 and No. 7 in the
D3soccer.com poll, improve their record to 17-3-1 and advance to next weekend's Sweet 16, where they will face MIT.
Rutgers-Camden closes its season at 14-8-2. Out of their 24 games, the Scarlet Raptors played 15 against teams that were ranked in either the NSCAA or
D3soccer.com Top 25 polls, or received votes toward those polls this season. They were 7-6-2 in those contests.
Oneonta scored early in the first half after a foul gave the Red Dragons a free kick outside the box. Raptor freshman goalie
James Brett (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) made a fine save off the free kick, but the ball bounded along the end line past the left post. Senior midfielder
Dylan Williams (Monroe, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) sent it back into the goal mouth. It was finished by senior defender
Jared Van Brunt (Sayville, NY/Sayville) at 8:10 for his sixth goal of the season.
Brett made eight saves in the opening half as Oneonta out-shot the Scarlet Raptors, 15-0. Oneonta senior keeper
Vincent Pellegrino (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) didn't need to make a first-half save.
The Red Dragons added an insurance goal at 57:07 when junior forward
Dillon Johnson (Northport, NY/Northport) finished a feed from seniors back
Alex Winiarski (Great Neck, NY/St. Anthony). Oneonta outshot Rutgers-Camden, 25-6, in the game, forcing Brett to make 11 saves. Pellegrino only needed to make three saves to earn the shutout.
The contest marked the final career game for Rutgers-Camden senior tri-captains
Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep), Mike Ryan (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and
Grant Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham), who all ranked among some of the all-time leading categories in program history.
Ryan finished his career playing 96 games, one shy of the program record set by current Assistant Coach
Joe Auleta (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton), and also leaves as Rutgers-Camden's all-time leader in goals (75), game-winning goals (23) and points (166). His 75 goals set a New Jersey Athletic Conference scoring record and his points ranked third-highest in NJAC history.
Hurff, despite playing only three years at Rutgers-Camden after transferring down from Rutgers-New Brunswick, played 73 games with the Raptors and collected 21 goals and 24 assists for 66 points. His 24 assists tied for fourth in program history, while his 66 points placed eighth. His team-leading 11 assists this year tied for the fifth-highest total in program history.
Taylor, meanwhile, finished his four-year career appearing in 91 games, the fourth-highest total ever at Rutgers-Camden. He collected eight goals and 18 assists for 34 career points, with his assists tying for 10th on the all-time list.
Also closing out four-year Scarlet Raptor careers were senior backs
Ray El-Khoury (Cranford, NJ/Cranford), Derek Lynch (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) and
Derek Shearer (Hamilton Square, NJ/Steinert). That trio played 73, 53 and 52 games, respectively, in a Raptor uniform.
The four-year Raptor letterwinners helped Rutgers-Camden compile an overall record of 70-19-8 during their career, which included four trips to the NJAC finals – winning three of them – three NCAA tournament berths and an ECAC Metro/Upstate championship. In Hurff's first season at Rutgers-Camden in 2013, he helped that group lead the Scarlet Raptors to the NCAA Division III championship game and a 23-1-2 record, setting a program mark for victories.
