CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 6, 2018) – The 2018 Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team may be young, but the Scarlet Raptors are building an impressive resume.
 
Rutgers-Camden won its seventh consecutive game here Saturday, scoring a pair of second-half goals and hanging on for a 2-1 victory over Rutgers-Newark in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
The Raptors' seventh straight win tied for the third-longest winning streak in program history, behind a pair of 11-game streaks during the magical 2013 season. Rutgers-Camden improves to 10-3-1, its best start since going 23-0-2 on the way to the national championship game in 2013, and also improves to 4-1 in the NJAC, its best conference start since another 4-1 start in 2015.
 
Rutgers-Newark falls to 7-6-1 overall and 2-3 in the NJAC, losing for the third straight time in a brutal stretch of its schedule which included NJAC-leading Montclair State and nationally-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology, in addition to Rutgers-Camden.
 
The Scarlet Raptors, ranked 10th in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Div. III South Atlantic Region this week, played two sophomores and two seniors among their starting 11. Five of their seven subs also were freshmen. That group was able to pull out the victory against a talented opponent to hike the Raptors' lead in the all-time series to 33-12-2.
 
After a scoreless first period, Rutgers-Camden took the lead for good only 1:40 into the second half. Freshman midfielder Kaito Kitazawa launched a 30-yard rocket which skimmed the bottom of the crossbar on its way into the net. His third goal of the season was assisted by junior midfielder Connor D'Ilio.
 
The Raptors added a big insurance goal at 66:12, set up by a perfect restart from junior midfielder Patrick Grudnik on the right side. Grudnik sent a feed into the box, where senior back Brian Palangi headed in his fourth goal of the season. It was the third goal of the week for Palangi, pictured above.
 
Newark's pressure finally paid off in the 74th minute, when a hold in the penalty area gave the Scarlet Raiders a penalty kick. It was converted by Joe Alba for his third goal of the season.
 
The game remained tight the rest of the way, with Newark pushing for the tying goal and the Scarlet Raptors missing golden opportunities on a pair of breakaways to put the contest out of reach. One of the breakaways was spoiled by a stellar kick save by Scarlet Raider freshman goalie Christian Andrach.
 
Newark finished with a 17-13 advantage in shots and both teams had six corner kicks. Andrach made five saves, while Raptor senior goalie James Brett had six saves. The victory was the 39th of Brett's career, one shy of tying Mike Randall (2010-13) for second place on the program's all-time list. Brett also became only the second goalie in program history to pass 7,000 minutes played, hiking his total to 7,012:43. The all-time leader is Tim VanLiew (2008-11), with 8,061:56.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Lancaster Bible College in a 3 p.m. non-conference game.