Box Score

GALLOWAY, N.J. (Nov. 4, 2015) – A berth in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship final has become a constant for Rutgers University-Camden over the past few years, and the Scarlet Raptors once again punched their ticket to the title game here Wednesday night.
 
Midfielders Clayton Taylor (Mendham, NJ/West Morris-Mendham) and Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) gave the third-seeded Raptors a goal in each half and Rutgers-Camden went on to blank second-seeded Stockton University, 2-0, in a semifinal game.
 
The Scarlet Raptors advance to the title game for their fifth straight season, where they will play Saturday at 6 p.m. at top-seeded Montclair State University. The Red Hawks beat Rowan University, 5-1, in Wednesday's other semifinal.

Rutgers-Camden becomes the first team in conference history to advance to five straight NJAC Men's Soccer championship games. The NJAC playoffs started in 1999.
 
"It's an amazing accomplishment for our program to advance to the NJAC Final in five straight seasons," said 10th-year Rutgers-Camden Head Coach Tim Oswald, who raised his career record to151-54-24. "It has showed our ability over time to sustain and build upon our program's previous success, as numerous recruiting classes and graduating classes have come in and out. I am so proud of these guys. They experienced some adversity mid-season with a poor streak of games, but the elasticity that they have showed has been brilliant."

NJAC Men's Soccer Championship bracket
 
The title game will come exactly one year after the Red Hawks beat the Scarlet Raptors, 3-1, in the 2014 title game, and Rutgers-Camden will be looking to grab back the NJAC title that it won three straight seasons from 2011-13.
 
Rutgers-Camden improves to 13-7-1 with its fourth consecutive victory. Included in that winning streak is a pair of 2-0 victories over Stockton in a seven-day span. Although the Ospreys lead the all-time series, 23-18-7, the Scarlet Raptors are now 5-0-2 in the last seven meetings between the NJAC rivals.
 
Stockton, which was ranked No. 14 nationally when it played Rutgers-Camden last week, falls to 14-5-1.

 
"We knew we had to show up at Stockton and be tactically prepared for a 90 minutes-plus match, emphasizing controllable intangibles like energy, hard work, being disciplined, and not getting caught up in the emotion of a big game. Although they have not beaten us in quite some time, we typically have not played well down there, and in the back of our minds that was a concern of our staff. As opposed to stressing that to the players, we spoke more about the players being committed to each other and doing the small things better over the duration of the game, to the best of our ability."
 
The Ospreys held a 9-4 advantage in shots in the first half, forcing Raptor freshman goalie James Brett (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) to make four saves, but it was Rutgers-Camden that made the most of its opportunities. At 15:54, Clayton Taylor headed home his second goal of the season following a long throw-in by sophomore Shane Guyer (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) toward the near post. Senior Ray El-Khoury (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) flicked it across the goal mouth with a header before Taylor finished with a header.
 
Both of Taylor's goals have been game-winning tallies. Guyer, meanwhile, notched his first assist of the season and increased his scoring streak to three straight games. He scored a goal in a 2-1 NJAC first-round playoff win over Rutgers-Newark Saturday and also notched a goal in last week's victory over Stockton. For El-Khoury, meanwhile, it was his second assist of the season, both coming in the Raptors'  two playoff wins.
 
The Scarlet Raptors added an insurance tally at 80:50 when Hurff scored off a back-heel shot from 10 yards out that found the lower left corner. It was his seventh goal of the season and, combined with his team-leading 10 assists, increased his point total to 24.
 
"Any time you play a team two times in a week, it's incredibly difficult to get two results, but that's what we were able to do on top of shutting them out both times," Oswald said. "They have played teams throughout the year in different ways and our preparation was focused on just that, while being able to adjust our personnel and team shape in an instant based on the way the match played out. We were totally fine with Stockton possessing the ball in certain areas of the field and allowing them to come forward to leave us space in behind to exploit. As the game wore on in our favor on the scoreboard, we knew they would have to chase the game and I felt our team would find that moment to increase the scoreline, and we did."
 
The Raptors' second goal came shortly before two red cards were given to the Ospreys, who had players ejected at 81:47 and 82:48, forcing Stockton to play shorthanded in the final minutes.
 
Rutgers-Camden outshot Stockton, 10-6, in the second half to leave the Ospreys with a slim 15-14 margin in the game. Eight of the Raptors' shots were on goal, forcing Stockton senior goalie Bobby Varga (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) to make six saves.
 
Brett finished with four saves for the Raptors, all in the opening half, as he recorded his fifth shutout of the season.

"Each match has a specific focus for us and the minute details are critical," Oswald said. "We now have to put the Stockton match in our back pocket and prepare for Montclair. We have an incredible respect level for MSU. We have played them in so many big games over the years, including four NJAC finals and an NCAA Elite Match, since 2008. I expect the match to be electric and a tribute to the talent on both teams' rosters. We are excited to be in this position and looking forward to the next 90 minutes."