Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 15, 2016) – In the wild competition that is the New Jersey Athletic Conference men's soccer race, one game can dramatically alter the standings and have huge playoff implications. The race for the third seed in the upcoming NJAC playoffs took a twist here Saturday as Rutgers University-Camden leapfrogged past Kean University with a 4-2 victory.
 
Junior forward Brad Maine (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) collected two goals and backs Darnell Brown (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) and Mike Naylor (Pine Hill, NJ/Overbrook Regional) both added a goal and an assist to help the Scarlet Raptors jump into third place in the NJAC. Rutgers-Camden improves to 8-4-3 overall and 4-2-1 in the conference.
 
Kean, which received three votes toward the D3soccer.com Top 25 poll this week, falls to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the NJAC. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Cougars, in which they compiled four straight shutouts. It also dropped them into fourth place in the NJAC standings.
 
The victory was the Raptors' fifth win over the Cougars in the last six contests after Kean had posted a 3-2 overtime victory in Union last season. Kean still leads the all-time series, 29-15-1.
 
After a scoreless first half in which Kean held a 13-4 advantage in shots, but Rutgers-Camden put more shots on goal (3-2), the Scarlet Raptors broke the scoring ice on the first career goal by Brown. Naylor sent the ball to Brown near the left touchline and the sophomore back sent a curving shot toward the far right post. Kean sophomore keeper Bryce Horn (Monroe Township, NJ/Monroe) barely got a hand on the ball, which hit off the post and went into the net at 53:08.
 
It didn't take long for the Raptors to strike again. Maine headed home a feed from junior Travis Chigi (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) at the far right post only 2:30 after Brown's goal.
 
After taking a 2-0 lead, the Raptors added another tally in the 76th minute when Brown sent a long diagonal pass from the left touchline to the right of the box. Maine fired a shot into the back left panel for his second two-goal game of the year and his fifth goal on the season. His first two-goal game came in a win over Rutgers-Newark Sept. 17.
 
Kean cut the gap to 3-1 on an unassisted goal by senior Kazari Trought (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) at 78:59, but the Scarlet Raptors got that goal back only 39 seconds later on a shot inside the right post by Naylor for his first goal of the year.
 
Kean scored its final goal at 84:15 when senior Kenny Rocha (Springfield, NJ/Jonathan Dayton) chipped in a feed from junor Alex Noriega (Somerville, NJ/Somerville). It was Rocha's seventh goal of the season.
 
Kean held a 20-12 advantage in shots, although Rutgers-Camden put more shots on goal, 8-5. The Cougars had a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks.
 
Horn made four saves for the Cougars. Raptor sophomore goalie James Brett (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) earned his 22nd career victory with three saves. In facing 20 shots, he hiked his career total to 569, moving past Mike Randall (560 from 2010-13) into fourth place on the program's all-time list.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Swarthmore College in a 7 p.m. non-conference game.