CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 20, 2018) – With the final regular-season game and a big Senior Day celebration on tap Saturday for the quartet of Cam Allen, James Brett, Fatai King and Brian Palangi, the last thing the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team wanted to do was to let a key opportunity slip away during the battle for New Jersey Athletic Conference playoff seeding.
 
The Scarlet Raptors made sure they didn't waste their chances.
 
Rutgers-Camden scored two goals in the final seven minutes to break a 1-1 deadlock and outlasted William Paterson University, 3-1, in a battle between two teams who have already qualified for the NJAC playoffs. The win temporarily lifted Rutgers-Camden into second place in the NJAC standings, pending the outcome of Saturday night's Ramapo at Rowan game, while dropping Paterson into the sixth playoff seed.
 
Rutgers-Camden raised its record to 12-4-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the NJAC, while Paterson fell to 11-5-1 and 4-4.
 
The Scarlet Raptors hold a 17-13-8 lead in the close all-time series and notched their first win over the Pioneers since 2015. The teams had gone 1-1-1 in their head-to-head rivalry the last three years.
 
Saturday's game was just as close, with both teams trading first-half goals. Rutgers-Camden had a fast start and found the net at 6:23 on a header at the back post by sophomore forward Skyler Diggs. He scored off a perfect cross from the right side by junior back Marcial Islas-Marroquin.
 
Paterson knotted the game at 39:27 when senior Brandon Hurley slipped a pass up the middle into the box, where junior Kyle Adams barely beat Brett's charge out of the box and chipped in the tying goal.
 
The score remained tied until late in the second half, when Paterson thought it had taken the lead, only to have a goal nullified by an offside call with 13 minutes remaining. Six minutes later, it was the Scarlet Raptors that took the lead for good. After a foul close to midfield on the Paterson defensive side, junior midfielder Zach Fox sent a long restart into the box, where it was headed into the net on the right side by junior back Trenton Hall. It was Hall's second goal of the season, with both of them coming this week against top-notch NJAC foes Rowan and Paterson. His winning goal came at 83:42.
 
The Scarlet Raptors added an insurance tally at 88:25 when freshman back Michael Funaro sent a through ball to Diggs, who split the defense and banged a shot off charging Paterson keeper Kyle Quigley that bounded into the net. It was the second goal of the game and the team-leading ninth tally of the season for Diggs.
 
Paterson finished with a 15-10 advantage in shots and a 7-1 lead in corner kicks. Quigley made two saves in the Paterson goal, while Brett had five saves for Rutgers-Camden.
 
The victory was the 40th career win for Brett, tying Mike Randall (2010-13) for second on the program's all-time goalie list.
 
Rutgers-Camden closes the regular season with another big NJAC battle Wednesday. It plays a 7:30 p.m. game at Stockton University.